On the beautiful white sand there was nothing but young hippies and objects washed up by the monsoon waves.
Beach combing was my favourite pastime. Pieces of brightly coloured wood fascinated me the most.
Reds, blues, greens, yellows, oranges, even blacks and whites, bleached by the sun, washed by the sea, were scattered everywhere by the waves.
Some were works of art in themselves. Others I gathered and turned into sculptural creations.
Only two months ago I found three large red/orange pieces that I have combined into a new creation for you to see.
Of course I realised years ago that these beautiful pieces of wood were the remains of former fishing boats that had gone through the process of ageing, which I like to refer to as dissolution.
As I mention, on those virgin beaches were also hippies – young and beautiful people in their early twenties doing nothing but enjoying life.
In most cases they wore practically nothing while swimming, sunning, dancing and so on. As an artist I enjoyed looking at them. I was inspired to create many sculptures celebrating their beauty and lifestyle. I also became acquainted with many.
Many continued to come back to Phuket for years, including some that had inspired my sculptures. I began to observe that with time their tight bodies were beginning to show their age
The parts that had fitted so perfectly together in their twenties were changing shape; expanding and contracting – even falling apart, just like the colourful pieces of fishing boats for which I combed the beaches.
With this revelation, I began to look at human bodies as being composed of hundreds of pieces of different shapes that had begun at conception and gradually come together in the early twenties as the bodies of my young hippies.
And just as those boats had gradually broken apart and washed up on the beach for me to collect, their body pieces also began to separate almost as soon as they came together.
It began as a mere hint, but eventually, no matter how hard we try to prevent it, it becomes full dissolution.
These hanging sculptures were exhibited in my "Bodies on the Beach" show a year ago. Those tight bodied now return in various states of dissolution, from the first hint to the final stage.
I find beauty even in dissolution.
The Baan Kata Arts Festival 2013 at Mom Tri’s Villa Royale will be held from February 3-4. Mom Tri Devakul, the owner of the VR Gallery will be showcasing his new exhibition ‘Beauty in Dissolution’ on February 3 from 7pm onwards and on February 4 ML Usni and his ensemble will perform a classical music concert at Villa Royale, also from 7pm onwards. Tickets for the concert are B500 each.
For more information, visit: momtriphuket.com