Kaiaroonsuth Chonticha: Crossways

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Gallery EXIT presents ‘Crossways’, solo exhibition of local artist Kaiaroonsuth Chonticha, featuring new painting works by the artist. The artist draws on her year of living in a subdivided flat on Ki Lung Street/Boundary Street in Kowloon, in search of hints of fermentation and the growth of life from things as big as the self and other people to those as small as the moss on the wall.

Beginning with the wall and the moss, Kaiaroonsuth Chonticha develops a series of explorations into the self, others and the city. Her mixed cultural heritage and Chinese and Thai is at once rooted in tradition and encompassing transition, alienation and intersection. As a result, the artist’s way of seeing is also diverse and shifting, full of uncertainties. With her not too fluent Cantonese, the artist’s Thai mother speaks in an illogical manner full of unexpected associations, splashed with the innocent and joyful character of Thai people. This is counteracted by her traditional Teochew father and Hong Kong-style education. Growing up through stories in life as a ‘vessel’ instead of a subject, the artist as an observer is especially sensitive to the dynamics between things and self-consciousness. Manifested in her creation, these become brushstrokes left over from repeated superimpositions and erasures.

While Kaiaroonsuth Chonticha’s previous works mostly revolved around transforming spaces or subjects, exploring the dynamic relationship between people, objects and space/spiritual space, her recent works are more about observations and imaginations of her personal life and the city. Her natural choice of medium, painting’s slow rhythm and versatility allow her to understand the many aspects of things in the process of creation, echoing the relaxed and ruminating side of herself. The artist explores the self and other things through painting and literature, guided by a constant practice of yoga and walking towards an aesthetics of living. Mostly by metaphors and imaginative associations, the artist paints along the flow, constantly making changes until the image is complete. Images, sketches and text usher in the next step, each day a little is added to or taken out of the picture, retracing when there is an excess. The artist imagines herself as a child drawing graffiti on the wall: The pencil follows the texture and traces on the wall, the imaginary space interacts with the simple essence of material, inadvertently evoking some ancient history.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Kaiaroonsuth Chonticha lives and works in Hong Kong. She graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University in 2017, majoring in Painting with a minor in Chinese Arts. Selected exhibitions include: ‘Tri-angles’ (Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong, 2023); ‘Where Are the Other Shores’ (PMQ, Hong Kong, 2022); ‘Art Central 2022: Made in Hong Kong’ (Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, 2022); ‘1a Christmas Pop Up Store’ (1a space, Hong Kong, 2021); ‘Sincere Landscape’ (Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery, Baptist University, Hong Kong, 2016); ‘Living with Bamboo: Museum of Art is Here’ (Hong Kong Central Library Gallery, Hong Kong, 2015); ‘Edward Hopper Deposit’ (Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery, Baptist University, Hong Kong, 2015); ‘Urban Exotic Dilemma’ (Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery, Baptist University, Hong Kong, 2015).