Published on July 23, 2005

Tawatchai Puntusawasdi explores how perspective changes when ideas are transferred from the drawing board to models

At first glance Tawatchai Puntusawasdi’s works seem rooted in architecture. But while many of the pieces on show in “Flat Perception” are houses, they are strangely out of shape.

A closer look at his scratchings on slate reveal rough sketches of dwellings and boats. The wooden house, the centrepiece of the exhibition at Numthong Gallery, has been built to the peculiar proportions.

Since his debut solo show in 1996, the 34-year-old College of Fine Arts instructor has been exploring the relationships between two- and three-dimensional objects and visual perception.

His work “Flat Paradise” evolved from a two-dimensional sketch into a three-dimensional installation. The result is an oddly shaped house that appears to have been vertically flattened. When viewed from a distance the uprights look like solid pieces of wood. Approach and you see they are but thin sticks.

“When I was a child, I enjoyed writing and drawing with chalk on a slate. I just erased the images I didn’t like,” says Tawatchai.

“When you draw a three-dimensional house on a two-dimensional surface like slate, the image is distorted and out of proportion. This time, I didn’t erase it but transferred the perception of those wrong proportions to the installation.”

Tawatchai has also copied texts from an ancient astrology book explaining how to construct an auspicious house to slate sheets scratched with images of houses.

“The ancient language is hard to understand, rather like pieces of art that are difficult to interpret,” says the Chiang Mai University graduate.

The artist enjoys playing with the transformation of forms, going from a two-dimensional perspective to a three-dimensional object and vice versa.

“Going to School” – a house made from flat wooden pieces with a long, narrow pathway – mimics the naive drawing style of children.

In his last exhibition “Dim”, shown in 2003 at Chulalongkorn University’s art centre, he played on the differences between reality and perception.

Tawatchai presented a series of wooden ladders in contorted shapes, a concept he developed for his sculptures in 2001 while on a six-month artist-in-residence programme at the Asian Cultural Council in the US.

The artist observed the steep ladders installed outside many of San Francisco’s buildings, that looked bent out of shape and almost flat with a two-dimensional form when viewed from afar. To transfer this idea into visuals, the artist created “Steep Ladder”. The sculpture explains his perception of the ladder that became distorted in height, width and depth.

In his last show, the artist also derided Bangkok’s buildings with his sculpture “Beside Avenue”, which was made from pieces of cardboard held together with glue and tape.

He also played with the idea that while the three-dimensional ladder can be stripped down to a simpler, two-dimensional form, the flat form (made of cardboard) can be transformed into a full-bodied shape.

For his debut show “Form-Shape-Form”, he created an oval-shaped sculpture from flattened tins of powdered milk.

It was this careful reworking of two-dimensional tin sheets into a three-dimensional structure that caught the attention of the local art world.

Some of Tawatchai’s sculptures appear unstable and likely to topple over at the slightest touch.

This is intentional and has roots in Tawatchai’s interest in the balance of nature – a passion that led to his initial studies in sculpture and later in boat making.

The artist, who is currently constructing his own wooden house in Bang Phli, Samut Prakan, even went so far as to enrol in a two-month course at the Phra Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya Boat-Making College in 1993. There, he learned the intricate physics and calculations needed to make wooden objects with tenons and mortises rather than hammers and nails.

“Flat Perception” continues through August 10. Numthong Gallery, on the first floor of Co-Op Housing Building on Thoetdamri Road, is open Monday to Saturday, from 11am to 6pm.

For more information, call (02) 243 4326.

Khetsirin Pholdhampalit

The Nation

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