From Sharne Wolff...
Starting out as a photographer, Pinaree Sanpitak shifted her practice toward drawing and sculpture before creating her first interactive installations around fifteen years ago. Sydney Biennale goers may recall the Thai artist’s Anything Can Break at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2012. A huge ceiling installation that comprised hundreds of silver-winged cubes and cloud-like breasts, the work resembled and behaved as if it were a live organic mass.
Sanpitak’s work has explored the human body in all manner of ways, while centring itself on the female form. For Sanpitak’s first solo show in Australia, curator Jasmin Stephens has, in consultation with the artist, developed a show that represents a narrative of Sanpitak’s career. Of five works on display, The Black the White and The Body, is from 1995 while the more recent Breast Stupa Topiary 2013, an installation selection of 3 pieces (from an overall 8), was first displayed at The Netherlands’ Museum Arnhem last year. As some works employ the reflective qualities of glass and stainless steel as a lure, others seduce by virtue of their authentic materiality – an example being the tactile Saa (mulberry paper) employed in Womanly Bodies 1998. In her thoughtful, composed way, Sanpitak’s art explores conceptual ideas around what it is to be human. Without being overtly political or authoritarian, these installations use a subtle elegance and the power of sincerity to embrace the audience.
Until December 13
Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Paddington
Pic: Pinaree Sanpitak Womanly Bodies 1998, Saa (paper mulberry), 2014. Fibre, rattan, jute twine, 25 pieces (selection of 13), 180–264 cm, ? size variable [installation view] ?Collection: Queensland Art Gallery. Courtesy Pinaree Sanpitak and Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. Photo: silversalt photography.
