Gallery VER

On March 15, 2015, after finishing 112 small red paintings, I wrote a note about my work as “there are many possibilities that art could represent the truth or that the content of art could be beyond what we see. There are parables that affect our personal experiences and our broken memories. The way we reflect on the meaning of them is worth doing. However, we require a tool to express art. It is a tool that we all seek. It is called “freedom”.

The Shades of Red project had been developed after the coup in Thailand in 2014. I often looked at the images on the bank notes. The images seemed to represent national symbols and/or Thai identities. But how much do we understand the meanings behind these symbols? How much do we understand the truth? We were familiar with the banknotes. We touched them every day. We collected them and used them to pay for our pleasure.

I chose to enlarge a part of the 100 Baht banknote by Photoshop from the size of 5 x 6.2 cm to the size of 1,000 x 1,250 cm. Then I divided the image into 500 pieces according to the shades of the colour. In this exhibition, I will show only 100 pieces. They are small parts of the big image. They are like pieces of a huge jigsaw. The two hundreds times of extended size of the image transformed the image we usually see into a flat plane of colour. We will therefore see them very closely at the pixel level. The truth is distorted. To see the truth we need an appropriate distance. 

‘Shades of Red’ means the different shades of red colour. The term ‘shade’ can also mean ‘the shield of light’. Modern physicists explained light as wave and particle. But philosophically, “light” means the ultimate truth or a symbol of God. Light makes things visible. It brings us out of fear in the dark during the night. Natural light occurs in the daytime. It is the time for us to wake up to see reality no matter how far away we are from reality.

About artist

Angkrit Ajchariyasophon was born in 1976 in Chiang Rai province. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Painting and Master’s Degree in Media Arts and Design from Chiang Mai University. He has created a wide range of visual arts including painting, sculpture, and photography. Last year, Angkrit Ajchariyasophon has been working as a guest curator for The Brand New 2016 exhibition organized by Bangkok University Gallery. His artwork has been exhibited both domestically and internationally. Most of his works relate to personal history, time and uncertain events in Thai society.