Palette Artspace presents "Depression", a painting exhibition that inspires lonely viewers to look for new light in the dark tunnel, until Nov 28.
On display are vibrant paintings by Pawarest Choksean, a newly retired man who realised that the vagaries of life had put him in complete isolation but managed to find a way out with the help of painting.
A former art student studying traditional sculpture at the Poh Chang Academy of Arts in the early 90s, he worked most of his life in the advertising industry. At retirement, he began to understand the state of depression.
His family had left him, friends had become scattered and he had spent life making a living with an unfulfilling business that disconnected him from his primal passion for arts. His personal life seemed to wrinkle away towards nothingness and the entire world slowly drifted towards chaos.
However, depression and chaos often lead to new beginnings and hope. He took up painting and started expressing himself with this medium. He used his isolation to explore what the internet and social media platforms could serve up as inspiration, hence, delivering images not of individuals but of anonymous figures and archetypes.
The framing and cropping are often cinematographic or reminiscent of everyday snapshots of social media. Innocuous actions, isolated beings describe a new normal at times sparking social critique. Using bold colours, his approach of painting is fresh and free of any institutional practice.
Now, his entire life has become a blank canvas, offering him a path to discovering the core of his own being. Colours and painting slowly evolve into structural elements in which his oversized characters float. In his latest works, he brushes the presence of the invisible.
The gallery is on Sukhumvit 55 (close to BTS Thong Lo Exit 3) and opens daily from 10am to 6pm.
There is no admission fee. Visit facebook.com/palette.artspace.
