Bookshelf by Torlarp Larpjaroensook (Hern)20 September 2011 to 7 November 2011No. 8, Singapore Art Museum at 8Q
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Torlarp Larpjaroensook (Hern), born in 1977, is an emerging Thai artist based in Chiang Mai. At the age of 16, he enrolled at the College of Fine Arts in Bangkok and later graduated from the Fine Arts Faculty at Chiang Mai University with a BA (Visual Art) in Painting and Printmaking. His practice alternates between art and design, and dwells between function and aesthetics. For Hern, the “books” in Bookshelf represent the various trends and histories of contemporary art. These books are actually appropriated oil paintings in impasto style, based on popular and widely available art books.
As with all books, the full value of their content is gained when they are read. However, in the case of art books, where heavy visual elements complement the written word, a person could skim through its pages, focusing only on the pictures and assuming the book has been well read and understood. For the artist who reads mainly in Thai, this case is not only usual but personal. As an artist, Hern often feels frustrated and unfulfilled when encountering such books. His access to knowledge of a wider, more international and current practice of art is limited to the number of pictures included in a book.
In Bookshelf, the function of the book is reversed and the “books” are now consumed directly through their visual quality.
The work is co-commissioned by SAM and the Singapore Writers Festival 2011, and supported by the Heritage Gala Fund.
