Why have you decided to put on a show now after so many years?

My friends have been encouraging me to show my paintings for a very long time. But it was only until last year when I started painting again that I really liked my own paintings. For the first time in my life, I was finally happy with them. It took so long because artists tend to get frustrated with their work and end up not liking them.

What inspired this series of work?

I’m interested in human behavior and the action of scrolling as everyone is doing that today whether it’s on Facebook or elsewhere on the web. One minute you’re looking at an image of a supermodel, then the next it’s a dead person. The action blends the images together to create a strong emotional contrast as if the action of scrolling has desensitized us to the context of these images.

Where did you find the images for your paintings?

Some of the images are actually from gay porn websites—you’ll be surprised by what kind of fantasies are on Thai amateur porn sites. I like to select images from scenes that look beautifully intimate and sensual. I cropped some of the crudeness and nudity anyway to focus on those essences. The others are from browsing through or searching the web, like images from Hiroshima and the massacre of albinos in Africa to highlight how readily available these images are. The majority of the paintings are very small, almost the same size than your moblie screens, and some even smaller, to convey those messages further.

As a curator, what was the process like of putting together your own show?

I purposefully chose to exhibit at Serindia Gallery because I like the fact that it's not a white cube and I was also charmed by the old characteristics of the house. I also admire [gallery owner] Shan Suvikapakornul's dynamism. There wasn’t much of an issue when it came to hanging the work. I was just told by Shane to hang the more explicit paintings further back.

Do you think having two biennales [Bangkok Art Biennale and Bangkok Biennial] in 2018 will boost Bangkok and Thailand’s contemporary art scene?

Of course it will, but that also depends on the selection of work. As the Bangkok Art Biennale is being sponsored by ThaiBev I feel like they might take on a more conservative route, especially with the theme "Beyond Bliss" just to draw tourists in. That could affect the quality of the work being presented and even push back the art scene. Also being under junta rule, I don’t think Bangkok can compete with other cities’ biennales like Fukuoka or Gwenju as Japan and South Korea are more open-minded and have been supporting the arts for a lot longer. Maybe in the next 10 years, Bangkok will become a key destination for contemporary art. 

"Sublimation" runs Jul 21-Aug 20 at Serindia Gallery, OP Garden, 4-6 Charoenkrung Soi 36, 02-238-6410

Images provided by Myrtille Tibayrenc