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Published on July 15, 2007

To celebrate its third anniversary, the privately run Bangkok Sculpture Centre is open daily this month to encourage people to learn about the history of Thai sculpture, from the father of Thai modern art Silpa Bhirasri to today's fresh forces.

The sleek glass-and-steel office building of PM Centre, on Soi Nuanchan 56 off Ram Indra Road, is home to the 4,000-square-metre sculpture garden, which sprawls in and out of doors.

The centre boasts 202 sculptures dating back to 1901, all owned by Sermkhun Kunawong, head of CM Organiser, the sister company of PM Centre.

The 46-year-old businessman started collecting art seven years ago in his own bid to learn about sculpture's development. He decided to share his passion with the public three years ago, opening the centre with 112 pieces in bronze, metal, wood, fibreglass and ceramic.

It usually opens only on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. There's never any admission charge.

Outside is an eclectic array, indicative of what's waiting indoors. Rearngsak Boonyavanishkul's surrealist "Self-Portrait, Crisis in 1997" from 2005 stands alongside Daeng Buasan's enigmatic glimpse of death from 2003, "Lost Spirit", and Nonthivathn Chandhanaphalin's exploration of mass and volume, "Relationship", which dates from 1974.

The sculptures inside are arranged chronologically and visitors are requested to view them that way, following an outlined path from beginning to end.

Crucial to the big picture, says Sermkhun, are the realistic depictions of King Rama V that Italian Cesare Fantacchiotti did in 1901 and those of Rama VI and Rama VII executed by Silpa Bhirasri in 1925 and 1927, respectively.

"These works show how the making of realistic portrait sculptures penetrated Thai society and has remained influential ever since," he says.

Sermkhun has recently acquired seven bronze Buddha images, the oldest 2,500 years old. They date back to the Dvaravati, Lanna and Sukhothai periods, though only the last is currently on display.

"The Buddha from the Sukhothai Period is graceful, in a style praised as one of the world's great classical art forms. I'm gathering the ancient Buddhist arts to give a complete picture of the long journey of Thai sculpture, from realistic objects of reverence to semi-abstracts to abstracts, and finally to mixed-media conceptual pieces."

Sermkhun, who has a degree in photography from Chulalongkorn University, says he appreciates the three-dimensional beauty that single objects of art can provide.

"I enjoy taking photos and admiring every angle of an object, but I wasn't fully appreciating three-dimensional objects. When I recognised their virtues I started collecting them, starting with traditional Thai puppets, hun luang and hun lakorn lek," he says, referring to puppets of the royal court and miniature puppets.

Sermkhun's first contemporary sculpture was a bronze by Khien Yimsiri, "The Musical Rhythm", which won top honours at the first National Art Competition in 1949. He has since bought 22 more pieces by Khien.

There are also nine wooden sculptures by Inson Wongsam and six pieces by Chamruang Vichienket, a pioneer in abstract art.

"Institutions are showing increased interest in displaying sculptures in their buildings," he notes, "and that will help people reach out and embrace the three-dimensional.

"Thai sculptors have standards as high as those of other countries, and many painters have shifted to three-dimensional work, like Panya Vijinthanasarn and Chatchai Puipia."

Among the remarkable works that Sermkhun has added to his collection over the past three years are Tawee Ratchaneekorn's 1994 "Export Goods", Phatyos Buddhacharoen's "To Step as Sufficiency on the Way of Dharma" from last year, and "The Turning of Karma", a work in granite from 2005 by newcomer Sivadol Sittipol.

"Export Goods" is a meditation on the trafficking of women as sex slaves - a carving of a women lies in a wooden box ready for export.

Phatyos, still recovering from a serious car accident, encapsulates the tragedy with a leg formed with wire netting, filled with cotton and supported on crutches.

Sermkhun plans to collaborate with the private and public sector to mount annual exhibitions at various venues. He has 30 pieces in the show "Buddhism, Eastern Spirit in Thai Sculpture" at the National Gallery until February 10.

"Collecting other things is a hobby I can appreciate," he says, "but sculpture is part of my life."

The Bangkok Sculpture Centre is open daily from 10am to 4pm all this month. Group visits should be arranged in advance. Call (02) 559 2364-9, extensions 119 or 129, or visit Bangkok-Sculpture-Center.org.

Khetsirin Pholdhampalit

The Nation