You won't go to the gallery, so Bangkok's ceramics masters are bringing their work to you.

Until June 5 the Emporium Ceramic Art Fest is displaying more than 2,000 works by award-winning craftsman and students in and outside the mall.

"The modern lifestyle involves hanging out at the malls on weekends," says one of the artists, Luckkana Wongsawat, while galleries only draw serious art lovers.

"Anyway, it's a lot cooler in the mall than it is outside!"

Ceramics and paintings are regularly exhibited and sold at the River City Shopping Complex, but the Emporium show is probably the first time they've been formally installed in the display hall and the aisles.

About 20 colourful ceramic pieces in different shapes, sizes and textures are on view by the fountain outside, set up as if they were dancing in front of the mall.

There's more at the main entrance, and on the second floor are pieces that served as theses for students at Chulalongkorn and Silpakorn universities. More commercial pieces are in situ on the fourth floor.

Ceramics collector Tinakorn Asvarak notes that this an art form that's been part of people's lifestyles since ancient times. The works have both function and a decorative aspect.

The installation on the ground floor includes a Vietnamese-style tea kettle by pioneering Thai ceramist Somtavil Urasyanadana and strange-looking thrones by lecturer Surojana Sethabutra.

A simple plate by lecturer Sermsak Nakbua has drawn praise for the technique used on the surface.

Luckkana points out that showing art in a shopping venue doesn't lessen its value or appeal. A Picasso on view in a mall is still a Picasso, he notes, and "a diamond will always be a diamond".

The award-winning pieces on the ground floor include the one by Luckkana that won top prize at the 12th National Ceramics Exhibition.

As in an art gallery, the pieces are accompanied by labels bearing the artist's name and the inspiration for the work. Some of the explanations might raise eyebrows.

"We don't expect people to be enlightened about art and ceramics at this show," says Chalit Nakpawan, whose "Platonic" and "Delighted Sadness" are on display.

We simply hope, he says, that more people will be attracted to ceramics and art in general.

Until recently, Chalit says, artists stayed within their own circle. "It's time for them to go beyond their own world and show it to the public," he adds, to educate people about art so that they start coming to the galleries.

To facilitate this, workshops are being held on the fourth, where students will encourage shoppers to have a go at making their own ceramics.

The Emporium exhibition is giving the students a rare chance to show their work outside their university galleries.

Silpakorn graduate Sirinya Nimnual is delighted with the boost in accessibility.

Luckkana has only one reservation - that the commercial area on the fourth floor is a little too commercial. There are just too many pieces on display, he says.

"We're feeding you with art work here. It's up to you if you're going to chew it."

SirinyaWattanasukchai

The Nation