Zen-erQi is the unusual title of a new exhibition by Danish artist, Marianne Hvass Kure, that opened on February 2nd at Hof Art in Bangkok. The exhibition features oil and mixed media works from the last year, merging East and West perceptions of art and life.
Marianne Hvass Kure works beside the sea in Pha La, a small fishing village near Sattahip.
She creates mainly abstract art, inspired by nature, people and the essential themes of life and death.
Zen-erQi reflects on the synergies between East and West.
The artist has been influenced by modern Eastern methods of “ink and wash”, together with traditional Chinese brush painting and calligraphy.
This has enabled her to experiment with Western abstract techniques, using the blue and metal colors of her Scandinavian background, in combination with the simplicity of Eastern artwork.
While synergy might be the correct technical term for the fusion of Eastern and Western art, the artist preferred to use a more spiritual and philosophical word.
Zen-erQi sounds like synergy but it has greater meaning too.
Zen is a fundamental facet of Buddhism. Qi, pronounced Chi in English, is the energy flowing through everything in Taoist and classical Chinese thought.
For more pictures from the exhibition, click on Zen-erQi.
Marianne Hvass Kure can be contacted at marianne@hvasskure.dk.
Her website is www.hvasskure.dk. The site is worth a look.
There is a particularly interesting series called “Cross Culture Icons”.
HoF is also host to a second exhibition, Land Art: from the Golden Triangle to the great river Khong, by Pin Sasao.
The artist spent more than six months travelling between Thailand and Laos along the Khong River.
His medium is photographic but the style is very unusual and somewhat compelling. This is much more than taking pictures. Khun Pin creates interesting imagery to express his landscapes.
I would love to talk more about Pin Sasao. Unfortunately, all the literature I have about him is in Thai and my reading of Thai is limited.
All I can really say is that he is young, has a beard and appears to have made his trip by bicycle!
It is also very difficult to take photographs of photographs, so I don’t have much of his work to show but you can find some examples at Land Art.
HoF has a good reputation for encouraging photographic art and usually runs a photo exhibition together with more traditional media.
For those who live in Bangkok and have time, I recommend a visit to HoF, which stands for “Highly Optimistic & Friendly Art”. They can be found close to the Ratchada MRT, next to a 7/11 store. The building alone is worth investigation.
Hof’s website is www.hof-art.net. Unfortunately, the site is currently available in the Thai language only.
Photos by Suttida Kanchanapiphat
