“My name is Nit-Chai-Ngewkham and I was born in January 1967.

Nit-Chai-Ngewkham © Ezistock Co., Ltd.

“After I graduated from the Rajamangala Institute of Technology in Chiang Mai, I began with paintings that focused on Thai and northern Thai cultural scenes and thought that the costumes worn in the old days were especially attractive.

Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, ‘Lanna Erotic 3′ © Nit-Chai-Ngewkham

“But after a while I started to get bored with it. Looking at mural paintings in temples, I noticed that invariably there would be some funny erotic scene in a small corner. I like to capture these funny scenes, copying the mural style and adapting it to my own style when I began to portray erotica around 1997.

“Daily Life” – Private Collection © Nit-Chai-Ngewkham

“I think that in the old days Thai artists used to be full of humor, adding such erotic little vignettes into what were supposed to have been paintings intended for religious purposes only. As a Buddhist, I thought it was funny and thought others would feel pretty much the same when they saw these things in places they were not really supposed to be.

Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, ‘Lanna Erotic 1′ © Nit-Chai-Ngewkham

“By adopting the Lanna style in my paintings I give local identity to my work. The tattoos on men’s bodies are typical and themselves tell many stories. As regards women, they will tend to have round faces when their long hair is tied up. When these features are depicted together, I feel my work has a nice local touch.

Various Paintings – Private Collection © Nit-Chai-Ngewkham

“Some people have criticized me for creating erotic scenes, saying this kind of painting will narrow my mind and cause me to behave inappropriately, but I don’t really mind. They say other people might not like it but the fact is we cannot exclude sex from our lives and separate ourselves from it. Sex is one of the fundamentals of life, and besides, I paint what I feel like painting.

Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, ‘Lanna Erotic 2′ © Nit-Chai-Ngewkham

Nit has exhibited his work all over Thailand and received awards as follow:

1987       – Award Winner:Student painting of The Lanna Group, Chiang Mai

1987       – Award Winner: Design Cards of The Wilds, Y.M.C A., Chiang Mai

1992       – Northern Custom And Culture Exhibition, Bank Of Thailand, Bangkok

1994       – Bualuang Art Exhibition of Paintings, Bangkok Bank, Bangkok

1995       – 1st Panasonic Contemporary Painting Exhibition

1995       – Award Winner: Exhibition To Honor His Majesty The King’s 50 Years accession to the throne, Thai Farmers Bank, Bangkok

1996       – An Exhibition to honor His Majesty The King’s 50 Years Accession to the throne, Thai Farmers Bank, Bangkok

1997       – Awards Winner: card design forSongkran, Commerce Gam of Thailand

1998       – Contemporary Arts For Amazing Thailand: ChiangmaiArt Museum, Chiang Mai University.

1999       – The 4 Rd  “Northern Arts Alumni Circle” Art Exhibition, Chiang Mai

2009       – Art Exhibition: “Sawasdee: the Art and Culture of Thailand 2009” at The Frame Shop &Gallery by Cencer Fighters Art, Inc.,USA.

2010       – Art Exhibition: “Sawasdee: the Art and Culture of Thailand 2010” at Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Lafayette by Cencer Fighters Art, Inc. USA.

Browse Nit-Chai-Ngewkham’s paintings.

* * *
Text and image ‘Nit-Chai-Ngewkham’ by EZISTOCK © Ezistock Co., Ltd., 2012 – All Rights Reserved.

Other images by Nit-Chai-Ngewkham © Nit-Chai-Ngewkham – All Rights Reserved.
Text and other images by
* * *

If you enjoyed reading this article, share it via the Share button located below

“As a Thai woman from a small village, when I look back I think I have always done the best I could for my family and community. I am happy with what I do and what I have. I live a simple life and don’t want much more than what I have today.

Amporn Kantee © Ezistock Co., Ltd.

“My name is Amporn Kantee. I was born into a farming family in 1953 and grew up in the village of my birth in Lamphun Province. I was the first of seven children and left school after primary level. My brothers and sisters did the same as we didn’t really see the value in continuing at school and it cost a lot of money. My brothers and one sister went into construction work while I and another sister took up weaving—very few of the women in my village would stay in school.

Gold brocade silk wall hanging, ‘Midnight Lights’ © Ezistock Co., Ltd.

“Like many other village women both my grandmother and mother would weave silk when the rice planting finished. My mother started to teach me to weave when I was around 14 years old. It took me a year to learn how to weave cotton and then I started to learn to weave silk, which is much more complicated. It took me around two years but once I had got it I never went back to cotton.

Gold brocade silk skirt, ‘Sweet Orchid’ © Ezistock Co., Ltd.

“When there aren’t communal activities happening in the village I spend most of my time weaving—my husband does construction and we don’t farm. Whenever there is a house warming, wedding or a funeral we stop working and take part in the ceremonies and rituals, helping out with the neighbors as is our custom. We go to help and share in each other’s ritual events—it is our way of life.

Gold brocade silk scarf, ‘Bombyx Secret’ © Ezistock Co., Ltd.

“Neither of my two daughters took up weaving as they carried on with school and went to university and got degrees. One is now an accountant and the other is doing community development work. They are doing what they like to do and I am happy for them. I can understand why they didn’t take up weaving: it takes such a long time to learn, and then it takes a long time to create a piece of cloth. And then after all that you don’t get paid so much for your work.

Amporn At Work © Ezistock Co., Ltd.

“I will continue to weave silk until I can no longer do it. I’ve been weaving for more than 40 years and it is central part of my life. I love every piece I have woven and I am always happy when people use and appreciate something I have woven.”

Browse Amporn Kantee‘s silk items.

* * *
Text and images by EZISTOCK © Ezistock Co., Ltd., 2012 – All Rights Reserved.
* * *

If you enjoyed reading this article, share it via the Share button located below

“Thinking morally and ethically will lead to a positive life. I have always followed this principal in living and this is what I want to pass on to my daughter. Though she was only born in 2010 I think a child is never too young to learn moral and ethical ways.

Jakgrit Mooninta © Ezistock Co., Ltd.

“My name is Jakgrit Mooninta. I was born an only child in Chiang Rai province on April 10^th, 1975. I grew up in a rural village—my parents are farmers—where everyone knows each other and helps out in communal life whenever necessary. As children we would run all over the village entering anyone’s house—no one would think anything of it.

Acrylic on canvas, ‘Pleasant and Luscious’ © Jakgrit Mooninta

“As a boy, going to village temples meant a lot to me as I would join in all kinds of rituals and ceremonies. There were so many little details to take care of and it all seemed so lively. The temple murals in particular would fascinate me. The Buddhist way of life in a rural village surrounded by animals and nature seemed like an open classroom. Watching daily life was like watching a way of life and culture— it was a great experience. It governed the way I behaved with others and helped me understand how they saw life. It was what I could bring into my world of art.

Acrylic on canvas, ‘Tranquility’ © Jakgrit Mooninta

“I always enjoyed drawing, painting and making things of clay. It never seemed like it was any effort. My teachers encouraged me to enter competitions and I would sometimes win awards, but what was more important was that I enjoyed the participating.

“My parents supported me as an art major in a vocational college in Chiang Rai and then I came to Chiang Mai to study art at the Technology Institute. Though my major was printing I enjoyed painting more. I graduated in 2000 and got a job in a silk shop in Chiang Mai designing patterns and motifs on silk and painting silver boxes. I even designed the logo for the shop. However, I only stayed there for six months because I knew that doing what others wanted for eight hours a day was not for me. I resigned and started to focus on my painting.  Something very good did come out of working in the shop, however, for it was where I met my future wife. We kept on seeing each other after I quit the job and eventually we got married in 2008.

Acrylic on canvas, ‘Hut 4′ © Jakgrit Mooninta

“I focus on my work and my daughter. My wife works as a teacher in a government school in another district and is only home at weekends, so my mother helps take care of our child.

Acrylic on canvas, ‘Playing in Water’ © Jakgrit Mooninta

“I am happy with the way things are and cannot see myself doing anything else. I will always follow the path of an artist. I still enter competitions and I have gained some recognition. Through participating in competitions I am reminded of my childhood and my life as an artist is enriched—the struggle is the reward.”

Acrylic on canvas, ‘Hut 2′ © Jakgrit Mooninta

Browse Jakgrit Mooninta‘s paintings.

* * *
Text and image ‘Jakgrit Mooninta’ by EZISTOCK © Ezistock Co., Ltd., 2012 – All Rights Reserved.

Other images by Jakgrit Mooninta © Jakgrit Mooninta – All Rights Reserved.
Text and other images by
* * *

If you enjoyed reading this article, share it via the Share button located below

“I could never have come this far without my parents. They have supported me in whatever I wanted to do, encouraging me stay in the art world and never asking for anything in return.

Komsan Poompanya © Ezistock Co., Ltd.

“My full name is Komsan Poompanya but people call me Boy. I was born on October 30, 1982 in a small village in Phrae province. My father worked on construction and though he doesn’t have any advanced qualifications he can read architect’s plans. I remember growing up seeing him having different kinds of building plans around him as well as interior design magazines.

“One magazine that really attracted me was Home and Garden. It had a lot of interior design pictures along with a few paintings by Thai national artists. One of the pictures that really impressed me was a painting by Monet. I would look at it again and again—I can’t really explain why, but I think that was when I really fell in love with painting.

Oil on canvas, ‘Bouquet of Sunflowers’ © Komsan Poompanya

“I had a sketchbook from when I was around four years old. I would draw whatever I wanted. I enjoyed doing all kinds of drawing work and clay work at school and teachers encouraged me to enter contests. I won some prizes.

“I am lucky that I was able to continue to study what I had learned to love thanks to my parents. After graduating from high school in my hometown, I moved to Chiang Mai and enrolled as an art major in the University of Technology.   I had to take care of my own expenses. I would work with friends, painting and helping out doing interior design.

Oil on canvas, ‘Light at Sunset’ © Komsan Poompanya

“After graduation, I only wanted to continue painting. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else so I never applied for a job doing something else. Instead, I focused on developing my skill and technique.

“Looking back over the last 10 years, I can see that my work reflects the person I am.  In 2010, I became seriously ill because I was drinking too much. I realized I had created the problem myself and would have to heal myself. I used my art to see me through, going out to paint every day. When I went out to do a landscape, I would also paint some flowers. I understood that flowers cease to be beautiful when they wilt.

Oil on canvas, ‘Sunflowers in a Vase’ © Komsan Poompanya

“I have stopped doing silly things like drinking too much and now I focus on what I can do best. I am so lucky to be in an artistic environment with so many artistic friends. I have matured and am more careful when I do things.

“I express myself and the people and world around me in color. I cannot detach myself from my work. I don’t really like to get into the deeper meaning of things but rather want to depict what can be more easily understood. I create my works in the way I want to and can do best. It doesn’t matter what people say or think for I will go ahead and express myself in the way I like best.

Oil on canvas, ‘Before Sunset’ © Komsan Poompanya

“I am happy with my work and with the people around me. I will never give up being an artist—it is my life. Thank you for browsing my work: I hope you can appreciate it.”

Browse Komsan‘s paintings.

* * *
Text and image ‘Komsan Poompanya’ by EZISTOCK © Ezistock Co., Ltd., 2012 – All Rights Reserved.

Other images by Komsan Poompanya © Komsan Poompanya – All Rights Reserved.
Text and other images by
* * *

If you enjoyed reading this article, share it via the Share button located below