There’s more to the universe than what we can see and touch, and our senses can’t understand the vastness of space and time. Napanant Rangsrithummakhun revels in these unknowns. The Thai artist seeks to give form to these mysteries with paintings that blur the lines between the here and now, between life and death. “Our knowledge and education are not enough to understand the things our senses can’t define,” he says. “We can’t touch love or hate, but our bodies and souls give them shape. They’re definitely real. What else could take shape from our bodies?”
宇宙不只是人们所能看见和触摸到的世界，时空的浩瀚远远超出了我们感官的认知和理解。泰国艺术家 Napanant Rangsrithummakhun 沉迷于探索这些未知领域，试图用绘画来模糊时空与生死的界限，将这奥秘具象化。“人类现存的知识和教育储备不足以去理解我们感官无法定义的事物，”他说道，“我们不能触摸爱或恨，但可以透过身体和灵魂使其具象化，它们是真实的存在。那么单从我们的身体角度出发，能将哪些模糊的概念具像化呢？”
Rangsrithummakhun was born and raised in Bangkok. He used to paint pop art up until a few years ago, when he found himself all alone in a new home listening to an audiobook about how life and death are part of the same storyline. Fascinated by the concept, he started exploring the themes on a deeper level, reading books and watching movies with a similar philosophy. This included research on the Egyptians, which would become the foundation of his current style.
Napanant 在曼谷出生长大，此前一直从事波普风格绘画，直到几年前的一天，他独自一人在家收听有声读物，其中探讨了生与死的部分，引起了他对这个概念的着迷，并决定深入探索。他翻阅相关书籍，观看此类概念的影片，其中包括对埃及人的研究，也由此奠定了他当前作品风格的基础。
His work now draws on Egyptian theology and art. He contrasts deep, dusky blues with regal golds on canvas in layers of sleek and smooth paint that float on rough textures, with shelves of consciousness and content. Faces and bodies are stacked on top of each other like pages from a book, overlapping at the eye or mouth and cut into jagged edges that resemble cliffs over expansive skies. One area of the painting may be crisp as a clear day, while another is bathed in Martian-red hues or blurred in a semi-opaque fashion. Heads float weightlessly and eyes are cut out to expose the world beyond. Other characters’ eyes bulge with their skin restricting tightly as if they were embalmed.
创作中，Napanant 借鉴古埃及神学和艺术风格，将深沉的暗蓝色与尊贵的金色调和在一起，形成飘逸、神秘的色域，漂浮于粗糙纹理之上，如同层层模糊、抽象的意识。人的面孔与躯体，则如同薄纱一般堆叠在一起，变幻莫测的透视法又为作品增添不少神秘。画面上阴阳对照，或披上火红色调，或如氤氲弥漫，模糊不清。失重的头颅漂浮空中、镂空的眼球好似迷离。这样的处理方式，让人体看起来不再像是人体，而是浩瀚天空下的自然奇观或是古老的建筑物。
Rangsrithummakhun is captivated by Egyptian frescoes and hieroglyph reliefs. The way they discuss the afterlife and lay down a path for our current life, all within elegant but simplified artwork. The fact that they were so advanced in such an ancient time. He sees it as mysterious and insightful at the same time.
Napanant 对埃及壁画和象形文字浮雕很感兴趣。这些简洁而优雅的艺术品，浓缩了古代文明对来世的讨论，尝试启示现今人类的生活方式。在他看来，那个古老时代虽很遥远，但人们却拥有先进的思想，既神秘又很有见地。
While his work was never intended to be Thai in theme or style, Rangsrithummakhun feels it really is somehow. “I can’t really explain why though,” he says. When it comes to Buddhism, there is some clear overlap. “In Buddhism, our life is only an illusion. We’re stuck in the present time, unable to return to the past or move forward into the future until we complete certain tasks. We’re all connected by karma.”
Napanant 从未刻意追求作品中的泰式风格，但他认为也无法避免一些潜移默化的影响。仔细观看他的作品，不难发现一些与佛教文化重叠的印记，他说道：“佛教认为，我们的生活只是一种幻觉。我们被困在当下，无法回到过去或前进到未来，除非我们这辈子只是完成一些轮回往复的任务，所有人都陷在这轮回之中。”
Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram: @glertae
Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li
