INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRSBryn Barnard23 Jalan AU5 C/3LemOah KeramatUlu Kelang, SelangorMalaysia29 June 1982

BEB-7Art and Celebration

Mr. Peter Bird MartiInstitute of Current World AffairsWheelock House4 West Wheelock StreetHanover, NH 03755

Dear eter,

"a. sip .lo tong r.0r sip mng"" "if you love ten wheels,you have to wait ntil ten o’clock." This Thai pop song wasall the rage during my recent visit to Bangkok, played on radioand tape by street venders, in shopping malls and on the centralparade ground, Sanam Luang. Sung b# the Royal Sprites, the tuneis a love song of sorts, eulogizing the ten-whe.eled trailer-trucks that are allowed within the city limits only after lOpm.These giant rigs rumble through the streets of Bangkok well intothe wee hours of the morning, servicing the city’s factories and

"rak sipshops. The song also has a popular hyming rejoinder,lor ..t..,..n ror _taw mong": "if you love ten wheels, you’ll be waitingt-O-build a-cofn.,,--This refers, I was told, not only to thedaredevil antic@ and spectacular accidents occasionally causedby the ten-wheelers, but also to the song’s composer, ChamnongPensuk, killed by one of the big rigs soon after the song hitthe Bangkok charts.

Life isn’t terribly safe for a Bangkok resident at any timeday, pedestrian or no. Restricting the ten-wheelers to thelate night and early morning hours has done little to ease thecity’s congested traffic situation. Throughout the day and intothe night the streets are choked with trucks, cars, taxis, tuk-tuk (jitneys) and hordes of motorcycles and bicy@les, fillingthe hot, steamy air with clouds of sooty, noxious smoke that givethe city an overall gray tonality, not to mention one’s clothing,skin .and hair. Venturing out onto the streets, much less tryingto cross them, is a rather chancy all’air.

of

Nor is there any escape on the klongs, the canals that onceserved as Bangkok’s main thoroughfa’res.-’Linked to the Chao Phrayariver meandering through the city’s western quarter, the water-ways also provided access to the port of Bangkok at Klongtoey andthence the sea. Most of the klongs have been filled in and as-phalted over now. The remainder, cut off from the river, are

Bryn Barnard is an Institute fellow studying visual communicationin Southeast Asia. His current interest is Thailand.

black, fetid and stagnant, saturated with sewage and re-i’use. The annual monsoon waters once carried off by theklongs are now confined to the streets and inadequate stormdrains. Worse, as the aquifers beneath Bangkok are drainedto slake the population’s thirst, buildings and streets arebeginning to compress the soft alluvial soil beneath them.The city, already near sea level, is beginning to sink invarious quarters, at rates approaching one-half inch peryear. Flooding worsens annually.

Chang Mai

Uttaradit

Ta ke

Ba

Udone .,Thani

Aranyaprathet

Despite this hazardousenvironment, Bangkok remainsThailand’s primate city, anurban magnet of some 4.9 millionpeople (15% of the Thai pop-ulation), growing throughmigration and natural increaseby some 3.5% per year. Bangkokis the focus of contemporaryThai urban life. Though Thailand,alone among Southeast Asian nations,managed to stave off colonial domi-nation, centuries of contact withthe West have left their mark, par-ticularly in the capital city.Western dress is ubiquitous, exceptfor the minority of saffron-robedBuddhist-monks (95% of all Thaisare Theravada Buddhists. MosThai males enter the monkhood forat least a short period of time

during their lives). Though San.gkok is famed for its ornateGrand Palace, glittering wat___s (monasteries), temples and monu-ments, the pervasive style throughout the city is, for themost part, Western. The average street is lined with drab,con-crete structures of uncertain vintage, unctuated by the occa-sional columned manor or Victorian-with-cupola. Skyscrapersare rare, save for a scattering of apartment blocks andcrumbling Vietnam-era k&R hotels. Though traditional Thai mu-

haz versions thereofsic can be heard, Western rock, jazz and(.like rak siplor) seem morep-ular. MosttraditionalThai art isrelgious in na-ture and confinedto wats, temples,museums and an-tique stores.True, many of thecity’s struc-tures sport.nag (serpents)

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gilded angels and all man-ner of mythical creatures.Th more pervasive art-style,however, is Western: giant30 to 50 foot high, hand-painted posters grace everymovie mrquee, advertising thelatest local and importedofferings. Brooke Shields,40 feet tall and clad in littleelse than her hair, was acommon sight during my stay,advertising the epening ofBlue Lagoon. Equally familiar,though smaller in scale, wasRembrandt s "The Night Watch, "numerous copies of which wereon sale at local art studios

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along with cubist, abstract impressionist and photo-realist work, calendar reproductions and painted photo-conversion portraits. Much of this work was actuallyproduced at Pattaya, a beach resort south of Bangkok.

Western influence has not negated trad+/-tion, however.Though Bangkok is symbolic of all that is modern in Thailandit is also the main focal point of traditional Thai culture,center for Buddhist and lay scholarship and primary conduitfor the performing and fine arts. My April visit to Bangkokcoincided with a Thai cultural extravaganza, the main eventsof tais year’s Rattanakosin Bicentennial. Rattanakesin is ashortened version of te city’s official name, whereas Bang-kok, the term familiar to foreigners, refers to the originalvillage on which the city was built. Bangkok is te latestin a series of Thai ’capitals. The previous one, Ayuthia, wassacked by the Burmese +/-n 1767. Rattanakosin commemorates thefounding of the new capital in 1782 by hraya Chakri, KingRama I, and 200 years of subsequent rule by he and his suc-cessors. The present monarch, Aing Bhumibol Adulyadej, isRama IX. Absolute rule by the Thai monarchy was ended in 1932by a military coup and real power has been wielded ever since

by a series ofmilitary regimes.The King, how-ever, remainsthe head ofstate.

Much ofthe organizationand preparationfor the BangkokRattanakesin fes-tivities was theresponsibility efthe Department ofFine Arts, a go-vernment agencynormally chargedwith such diversetasks as archaeo-logical researchand excavation,reconstruction andrenovation oftraditional Thaiarchitecture, artand scuiPture. aswell as supportand promotion ofthe traditionaland modern per-forming and fine

arts. To give the city someof the sparkle appropriatefor such @n auspicious occasion,some US15 million in govern-ment funds and at least asmuch private money was spentreurbishing and redecoratingthe temples and monumentsthroughout the city. The GrandPalace, Wat Phra eo,Wat ahatatand other buildings suroundingSanam Luang -scrubbed, regildedand retiled--fairly glistened inthe sunlight and were set ablazeby floodlights each evening.ess auspicious buildings alongRatchadamnoen lang, the main

6 avenu leading into Sanam Luang,were also decorated with lights.

Lampposts along the street were decked out with whirling, pul-sating light displays, one for each of the nine Chakri Kings.Some functional work was also undertaken" roads were resurfaced,sidewalks patched, the more obvious klongs dredged and badlyneeded shade trees planted.

Tough billed as a primarily Thai-oriented event, Ratta-nakosin was also highly touted abroad. Articles on the preparationsfor the celebration appeared in the regional airline magazines,posters and brochures were given away at the Singapore Inter-natienal Travel Fair (ES-5 and Rattanakosin calendars wereincluded with the usual tourist literature at Thai embassiesin Singapore and alaysia. Marketing continued in Bangkok.Rattanakosin signs and decals were displayed in store windows,on bumpers, lampposts and book cevers. The RattanakosinInformation Cente near Sahara Luang had a plethora of items forsale and giveaway: posters, brochures, maps, glasses, mugs,ashtrays, ey rings, T-shirts and other assorted paraphernalia.Street hawkers sold the same items for a few baht more.*

One particularly hot item was the poster of the RoyalBarge procession, one of the main Rattanakosin events. Thebarges, each carved from a single teak log and gilded, werepulled out of drydock for the occasion and floated down theChao Phraya with the ing, Queen and retinue, to the accompa-niment of chanting and drtuns. The procession was held April5th. By April 8th, Royal Barge posters were being hawkedon the sidewalks throughout the city, alongside the templerubbings and portraits of John ennon.

Sanam Luang was the nocturnal focus of the first week ofRattanakosin festivities. Each evening, novies, mostly docu-mentaries and nature films, were shown on 20-oot tall screensset up in the center f the parade grounds, while regionaltroupes from around the country performed hang talung (shadow* 2 Baht = US$1

the amakie. Thai version of the Hin’d’u kamaya.n.a epic. DespiteBudd’h’ist primacy, Hindusim is an integral part of Thai cul-ture, as it is in most of tae culture of Southeast Asia.Garuda, the mythical mount of the godV’isn, is the state symbol. TheRamayana, story of the travails ofmma, a Vishnu avatar (incarnation),provides the inspiration for muchThai art, literature, dance anddrama. This particular peformanceof the Ramakien employed 2525dancers, one for each year sincethe death of the Buddha. A specialstage and football field-sizedperformance area was set aside forthe occasion, promoted as one ofthe most spectacular events of thecelebration. Sheer weight ofnumbers insured some measure of 8pageantry, but unfortunately overhalf the dancers (the armies ofRama and his antagonist Ra.vana)appeared to be ill-trained schoolchildren, stumbling and bumping their way through the steps..The main dancers, however, performed their roles with exqu=site grace and precision. Narrator-singers provided thevoices for the dancers. Classical Thai music accompanied theperformance. Audiences for the Ramakien were huge and again,

mostly Thai. At one point thecrowd looked to number 20,O00, seated100 deep on the ground around theperformance area. By morning Sanamuang, the "grassy esplanade" of thetourist brochures, was a dustbowl.

play), puppetry and folk theaterin makeshift pavilions erectedaround the perimeter. All per-formances were well attended.Audiences were 95% Thai and pa.kedthe grounds and surrounding areafrom six pm to midnight, vindicating,perhaps, the government’s conten-tion that this was indeed an Eventfor tae eople.

By far the biggest draw wasthe four-night performance of theclassical khon masked dance-drama,

Other Rattanakosin events in-cluded oaytime performaces of regionalfolkdances and a bevy of "friendshipdances" Thailand-Malaysia, Thailand-Burma, etc. There were also exhibitionson Thai culture, history, currency

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lO

ll

and art.One event not strictly as-

sociated with the Bicentennial,but nevertheless, o+/- particularinterest to me, was the 28thational Exhibition o Art atilapkorn University. Establishedin 1933 by the Fir Arts Depart-ment as the Academy o Fine Arts,Silapkorn became a University in193, granting the BA and A de-rees. ough te emphasis isWestern, Thai techniques are alsotaught. Students learn watercolor,anatomy, art history, composition,sculpture, graphics and classicalThai painting. This last empha-sizes traditional techniques, ma-terials and iconography. Occa-sionaly, students are commissionedto produce reproductions o tra-ditional works for corporations.The University also has a depart-ment of Thai art. Studentsstudying in this department may workin any media as long as theirart employs Thai imagery erthemes.

Works at the exhibition wereheavily Western in style, executionand presentation, not surprising inlight of the University curriculum

and a history of Western inluence in Thai art that goes back tothe reign of Mongkut, Hama IV (1851-63). ainting made up thebulk of the exhibition, spanning virtually the entire range ofmodez Western art history" impressionism, cubism, pop and opart, surrealism and photo-realism. There were also a few paint-ings that employed Thai imagery and even a few classically-styledpieces that ooed for all the world like temple Walls transferredto canvas. Scu+/-pure at the exhibition included figurative workin bronze and plaster, welded sheet metal abstracts, soft-sculpture and low-relief wood carving. I was particularlyimpressed with the lithographyand serigraphy. As with most ofthe work, quality of execution 12was excellent, but these mediaseemed to afford the widest rangeof expression and produced someol the most intriguing works ofthe exhibition" dark, moody,surrealist landscapes, montagedjuxtapositions ol traditional

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BEB-7 --and centemporary imagery (shadow puppets and modern clockfaces, khon masks and newspaper headlines from the 1973student demenstrations) and a few rather forbidding self-portraits.

Unfortunately, there is little scope for the fine artistafter graducation from Silapkorn. The domestic market forThai fine art is small (though growing) and the foreign mar-ket unreliable. Only a few artists are able to support them-selves on sales of their work, a situation not much differentfrom elsewhere in sia, or for that matter, the rest of theworld. The majority find employment as teachers or commercialartists in Thailand or abroad. Thai illustrators, it seems,command an international market. In Singapore and Malaysiathey are well known for the quality of their work and in somefields, like achitecturalillustration, are in high demand.

Rattanakosin and the Silapkorn exhibition are two veryselective expressions of Thai culture, the one a celebrationof trad+/-tien, the other a smergasbord of tradition and modernity.They are hardly a sufficient basis for analysis or judgement.From the little I saw, however, it would seem that traditionalThai culture is not simply the province of aficianados andhistorians, but still an integral part of urban life as well.Despite their affection for Western dress, music and film,urban Thais seem well able to appreciate the itual and storyef the nang talung and the Ramakien or the iconography ofa Buddhist Jataka story (a tale of one of the previous livesef the Budda on the walls of a Bangkok wat. Contemperaryartists, though enamored with Western styles and techniques,still make reference to this traditional imagery, thus reS6naingthe same chords in modern Thai audiences as artists Of tepast once did in theirs. The context of tradition may havechanged in Bangkok, but the values it represents seem verymuch alive.

19

Sincerely,

Barnard

BEB-7 -i0-

List

i.

2.3..

of Illustrations

Map of Thailand;’Far Eastern Economic

Photograph; Wat Phra Keo and Grand Palace, Bangkok; BEBPhotograph; movie marquee poster, Bangkok; BEB+/-"ainting; klonside houses off Maha Pluetharm Road,Bangkok; BEB; oil on gesso-coated masonite.

Sketch; house and water tower near Sol 29, Sukumvit Road,Bangkok; BEB; marker and felt-pen on bristol board

Sketch; attanakosin souvenir key-chain; ink on bristolboard; BEB

hotograph; nang talung, shadow heater from southernThailand. The top photograph depicts clown puppets with amotorcycle puppet, ’.a non-traditional innovation Thebottom photograph depicts traditional nang. characters,similar in style o Malaysian way.an .K.e!an.t.-.a.n puppets

hotograph; Ramakien stage with Rattanakosin logo; BEB

Photograph; Ravana, antagonist of Rama, with chariot andattendant warriors on Eamakien performance field, SanamLuang, Bangkok; BEB

+/-hotograph; egional puppet theater, SanamBEB

ii.

12.

i.

14.

15.16.

17.18.

Photograph; Department ofst ory of Prapammanee, theBangkok; BEB

Phot ograph; Thai-BurmeseTheater, Bangkok; BEB

Painting; reproduct ionPreecha Thaothong

Sculpture leather andDoungchaw na

Review 1980 Yearbook"

Luang, Bangkok;

Fine Arts puppet theater; heCrocodile King; Natimnal Theater

friendship dance, National

of traditional Thai painting; mixedmedia

wood; "Truth of Material"; Arkom

9ainting; oil on canvas; "Tranquility"; Surasit Sovakong

Etching; "Bulle de Champagne"; Paripat Vajarapan

Serigraph; "Pictures on Blue Paper"; Suwan Methapist

Painting; oil on canvas; "The Predicament of the Sub-consciousness 2"; Kiettisak Charnonnar%Photograph; pavilion on Sanam Luang, Bangkok; BEB

Received in Hanover 7/13/82