From Hip-Hop To High Art: Artist Korakrit Arunanondchai's Unusual Path

Very few people get the chance to be a pop star, study under a living legend, or become an emerging art world mover-and-shaker. However, Thai-born artist Korakrit Arunanondchai, Krit for short, has managed to achieve all three and more before the tender age of 27. Studying under influential artist (and fellow Thai) Rirkrit Tiravanija at Columbia University, Arunanondchai’s fame hovers just under the radar, on show flyers and guest-collaboration rosters. With glowing reviews in publications like V and Interview Magazine, and a current exhibition at The Suzanne Geiss Company, Arunanondchai seems poised for greater things. While in town we were able to talk to Arunanondchai about art in context, meeting uber-curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, and the unlikely stars of Thailand’s Got Talent.

The Creators Project: Though you've been trained in the US (at RISD and Columbia), how do you think your Thai heritage and exposure to Thai pop culture has shaped the way you approach art?

Korakrit Arunanondchai: Yeah, I think Thai pop culture has totally affected my work. Growing up I was never happy with Thai pop culture. It promotes homogeneity and raises American and Japanese culture much higher than our own.

When I first came to America to attend RISD, it was like all my life I'd been waiting to come here. Now 8 years later a lot has happened and I'm actually really excited to go back and become a cultural producer in Thailand.

I think I still approach art making in a very sincere way and that's maybe a Thai thing.

Arunanondchai in his studio, courtesy of the artist.

I understand that Rirkrit Tiravanija has been something of a mentor to you, and one of the main reasons you decided to attend Columbia University. What was it about Tiravanija's art that inspired you to study under him, and how do you think his tutelage has impacted your work?

I think one of the most important things I learned from Rirkrit is to always consider the context when making art. So now I think about where I am doing something before I come up with what I want to do, always.

I think it was my second studio visit with him [Rirkrit] at Columbia where he was pretty harsh to me. It was all conducted in Thai. He told me I should go reconsider my position as a human being. I really did. I think after that studio visit the focus of my work changed a lot, and maybe then I decided that I want to become a Thai artist, not just an artist making art in United States.

I saw that you recently had a studio visit with curator Hans Ulrich Obrist. That’s an extraordinary experience for a young artist to have. What was it like meeting him, and did he have any particular insights he wanted to share with someone just beginning their career?

He was really great to meet. He did a project in Bangkok in 1999 called "City on the Move." It was a pretty historically important moment for art and culture in Bangkok, in my opinion, so I got to ask him some questions about that. Throughout the studio visit he made a lot of connections from my work to other artists, theories and ideas that were very very useful. Overall it was great to meet with someone with such a great feeling of urgency for Art. I felt really energized and hopeful after our conversation.

A peek into Arunanondchai's workshop during Open Studios. Arunanondchai's work frequently has motifs of digitally-distressed denim, LED lights, and multimedia collage.

You seem to have worked on several collaborations in the past few years, from a few fashion-related concepts to several group shows. Can you tell us a little more about these projects, and how they came to fruition?

The big collaboration I had this year was a video called "2556". I was at a residency called Skowhegan in Maine. I collaborated with a huge amount of people that were at the residency the same time I was. The standout ones that were also performers in the video are Jesus Benevente, Park McArthur, Amber Hawk Swanson, and Sarah Workneh. Basically it started as an open structure where I would approach my collaborator with this one text written by Silpha Bhirasi. Then we would have a conversation about, and come up with, a performance together based on the text and the context of the residency.

Below: 2056, courtesy of the artist.

Most of my work I would say is a collaboration, one way or another. Even something like getting the paintings from my studio in NY to Brussels and hanging them for my recent solo show (at C-L-E-A-R-I-N-G)  is a collaboration between me and the members of the gallery.

(Above: a short behind-the-scenes for Arunanondchai's show at C-L-E-A-R-I-N-G, Below: One in a series of "paintings" created using digital printing and superimposition).__

In your recent exhibit Painting with History in a Room Filled with Men with Funny Names, who were all the other Thai/funny named men? What was the inspiration for this?

Painting With History in a Room Filled With Men With Funny Names by Korakrit Arunanondchai

We're all in a collective called "Chantri." We make art together and smoke tons of cigarettes. We love the idea of western painting and even attempt to paint ourselves. One of our heroes is the female Thai performance artist name Duangjai Jansaonoi (also known as the Thailand's got Talent boob painter).

You will hear more about it soon as part of an upcoming project!

Above: Duangjai Jansaonoi at work.

Can you tell us a little bit more about your music career in Thailand?

I wanted to become a rock star in my teen days. One time my band and I got called into this big recordcompany called GMM. We played our shitty demo for them. I got pulled out and they basically told me our band sucks but I got the looks to make it as a pop star, and that they could train me to sing and dance. Honestly, I didn't think it was a dumb idea at the time, but I was just too lazy to learn how to sing and dance. I did a hip-hop thing after and we played some festivals too, but that really didn't last either.

A younger Arunanondchai, via Youtube.

What made you decide to transition to art?

I went to RISD to pursue graphic design. Then two weeks into the major I was extremely bored with it and didn't want to touch my homework. Then I had this one trippy day where everyone was asking me how printmaking was going. At 3 am that night I was looking into my reflections in the river, it was a full moon. So I switch my major to printmaking that night and I guess that's when I more or less "decided" to become an artist.

Do you ever miss the fame and attention that came with being involved in such a performance-heavy medium?

Nope.

What are you working on now?

Many different projects. There's a collaboration coming up with the performance artist Boychild that I am really excited about.  Then there's a potential collaboration with my favorite Thai performance artist Duangjai Jansaonoi, who as I mentioned above is mostly known for using her breasts to create abstract paintings.

Then there's also a film and a new body of paintings I am collaborating on with my twin, Korapat Arunanondchai, and a feature film I’m going to be working on for the next two years about a Thai temple called Dhammakaya and its relationship to Steve Jobs.

I also currently have a show up at Suzanne Geiss Co. called Digital Expressionism. It's an exploration of the half-life of material objects in an era dominated by digital forms.

Image courtesy of Ben Wolf Noam

Curated by Ben Wolf Noam, Digital Expressionism explores highly modern questions like "Is the laptop hermit heir to the Modernist ingénue? Is the blackbox of technology today’s eccentric genius? Does algorithmic precision realize or relegate the promise of a common visual language?"

"Digital tools can both mimic material phenomena and become art historical reference points," says Noam 

For the exhibit the gallery was transformed into "a temple for the digital age" via a series of 15-foot gradient painted columns, a stage built from manipulated denim, and oil painting of original graffiti. As part of the project, a pattern of digital manipulations were used: compression, transposition, and texture-mapping to create a varied body of work.

Thibault Lac Performance, Saturday September 7th 2013, Photo Sophie Corra

Do you have any plans to collaborate with other Thai artists and perhaps do a show in Thailand?

The Thai Art collective, Chantri, has a pretty open structure, and we welcome more people to join (both Thais and non Thais).

Thailand will have its first international art biennial in December of 2014 at a beach city called Pattaya. I have not been invited to participate by any means, but hopefully I will get to do something for it.

Who would be your dream collaborator(s)?

Brock Enright, Boychild, Drake, Pearypie Amata Chitsanee, and Rirkrit Tiravanija of course.

Below, 2012-2055 by Korakrit Arunanondchai, photos courtesy of the artist.

The interactive nature of the painted background mixed with proto-religious imagery almost reminds us of Marco Brambilla's Creation video series.

Digital Expressionism will be on view from September 5 - October 19, 2013

The Suzanne Geiss Company

76 Grand Street, New York, NY 10013

open 12-6pm Tuesday-Saturday or by appointment.

Korakrit Arunanondchai 

@LauraFFeinstein