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By Chavalit Soemprungsuk
\nOpening Reception: Sunday 19th Jan 2020 at 16:00 hrs.<\/p>\n
\n‘80+’ is a six-part series of solo exhibition by an Amsterdam-based Thai artist, Chavalit Soemprungsuk (b. Khon Kaen, 1939), who has lived and worked in both Thailand and The Netherlands for the past 60 years.<\/p>\n
Chavalit is one of the last groups of students who had the opportunity to study with Silpa Bhirasri before he passed away. After graduating from Silpakorn University, he received a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture of the Netherlands to study at the Rijkskademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
He began his career by creating realistic artworks, which later developed into abstraction. Over the past six decades, he has been recognized as one of the key figures in Thai abstract and non-objective art. During his latest solo exhibition ‘In Amsterdam with Chavalit Soemprungsuk’ at Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Center in 2013, he decided to donate over 4,000 items of his possessions, including art collection, books, furniture, personal belongings, and the structure of his Amsterdam apartment to The Thai government, with the request that the collection will be accessible to the public, in order to benefit the younger generation of Thai artists. Chavalit has been awarded as a National Artist (Visual Art) in 2014.<\/p>\n
After giving up his material properties in preparation to the last stage of his life, Chavalit has shifted his artistic medium from large-scale sculptures and paintings to digital computer prints at the age of 70. During 2013–2019, he has developed an immense body of digital works, as well as experimenting with one-off edition digital inkjet prints in his Amsterdam atelier. This collection will be displayed for the first time in all six venues of ‘80+’ exhibition, in celebration of the 80th anniversary of Chavalit Soemprungsuk.<\/p>\n