MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum is proud to present the exhibition Mon Art du Style(or “my art of style”).
The title, which is also a pun in Thai meaning “look at art, see style” sums up the key message of the exhibition. Rather than a “fashion” or “art” exhibition in the traditional sense, Mon Art du Style aims to showcase a particular vision or philosophy of “style” through the collective presence of the garments and artworks.
Notable works by Montien Boonma, Pinaree Sanpitak, Manit Sriwanichpoom,Chatchai Puipia, Niti Wattuya, Navin Rawanchaikul among other emblematic figures of Thai contemporary art are presented alongside of a selection of pieces by international and Thai design houses, including Lanvin, ISSEY MIKAKE, Yohji Yamamoto, Yves Saint Laurent,Christian Dior, Nagara, TIRAPAN, and PICHITA to name just a few.
The garments and artworks are presented together thematically—largely based on their visual or cultural resonance. The exhibition does not attempt to show the pieces based on any historical or chronological order, but takes the viewer on a more visual and emotional journey. Rather than subtracting or distracting from the meaning of the artworks, the presence of the clothes adds a sense of fleeting poignancy. If artworks are immortalized emblems of human ideas, the garments and silhouettes imply of the presence of its mortal admirer. Each artwork or garment, while may be appreciated individually, is meant to be seen within the larger context of a global aesthetic universe. Their juxtaposition shows the visual, emotional,and often poetic dialogue between “art” and “style”
.A new work by Jakkai Siributr created especially for this exhibition pushes even further the idea of “dialogue” between garment and art. BPB is a tapestry composed entirely of Patsri’s everyday garments that were cut-up and re-stitched together into a richly textured patchwork
—a mélange of traditional Thai “mo hom” indigo and the famous “Pleats Please” pleated fabric.
At once an intimate portrait of its fabrics’ former wearer and an abstract composition, the piece represents a metamorphosis of garment into art, a transfiguration of the private and personal into a universal and immortal object. The title is a “monogram” of “Patsri Bunnag”,a tongue-in-cheek reference to luxury label logos as well as a poignant hommage to her legacy.
MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum
122 Moo 7 Tonpao Sankampheang Chiang Mai
info@maiiam.com – www.maiiam.com
Art of Style
Patsri Bunnag
Patsri Bunnag was a style icon not just because she owned a remarkable collection of rare designer pieces, but because she knew how to make those pieces uniquely “hers”.Her look was striking, unique, inspired. A large part of that inspiration was art. Patsri and her family were avid collectors and suppoters of all forms of artistic creation,
whose passion for art led to the founding of MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum.Her singular sense of style reflected her unique vision of the world; a vision finely honed through years in Paris and decades of appreciating and living with art. Through the pairing of a selection of pieces from Patsri’s wardrobe with artworks from her family’s private collection, the exhibition aims to demonstrate how style is not just about “fashion” or “clothes”,but a total aesthetic vision of the world. As Patsri elegantly stated,
“le style c’est la façon de penser”
or “style is a way of thinking”.
“le style c’est la façon de penser”
“style is a way of thinking”
MON ART DU STYLE
An exhibition featuring garments and accessories from the wardrobe of Patsri Bunnag with new artworks and key pieces from the museum archives.
Curated by Pring Bunnag, scenography by Ampol Jiramahapoka
Opening date: February 25, 2017 from 05.00 – 8.00 pm.
MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand
25 February – 25 June 2017
