In a regional scene that is ripe with experimentation, we’ve chosen 10 artists who works in a variety of countries, mediums and styles, and who are fast gaining recognition, both locally and internationally
Chiharu Shiota
Tada Hengsapkul
“Art is a tool that is glazed with hope,” said Bangkok-based multidisciplinary artist Tada Hengsapkul (b.1987) in an interview with Seismopolite. The artist ’s process always begins with immersive research, in which everything from chairs to governments are worth interrogation. For the sculpture” Under the Same Sky,” 2017, the artist collected American mortar bombs in his hometown and recast them into a silver globe; on the surface, he inscribed a Shakespeare quote he found on the lighter of an American soldier: “The quality of mercy is not strained.” Despite chafing against censorship at home for the sensual and political provocativeness of his work, the artist’s goal is to create “a mirror” through which one can hear the “sound silence” of blossoming self-knowledge. For his photographic series “The Things That Take Us Apart,” 2017, Hengsapkul concocted a social experiment in which he invited strangers to participate in an ordinary social gathering while naked. The artist’s works have been featured in solo exhibitions across his native Thailand as well as in group exhibitions in Phnom Pehn. Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Chongqing, Manila, Melbourne, New York and Paris. “Even though the questioning and answering of some things is against morality in some areas, an artist shouldn’t surrender”, said the artist, “because if our month has been shut and we let our month be shut, it means that we can’t kiss the one we love honestly.”
Xu Xinwu
Ha Mahn Thang
Dina Chhan
Jeering Lee
Xu Zhen
Natia Jones
Sarah Choo Jing
Vivian Ho
