Thanpisit Saenjan is an artist who started off as early as primary school — “The teacher saw my skills and signed me up for an art competition,” He tells us. “When people see the talent that you have and recognise the things that you love doing as a talent, it encourages you to continue and do more,” Thanpisit elaborates. With these impressive acknowledgements, he continues on to a more specific field of study: vocational school. To earn money for his tuition, he spent his high school life selling his paintings to fulfill that goal and later on finished a bachelor’s degree in Arts at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi.

Background

Fundamentally, Thanpisit Saenjan comes from a rural background, with his family based in the North of Thailand and is fully immersed in the agricultural business; he is surrounded by rice fields, fish ponds and raising animals. This became the inspiration behind some of his paintings (‘Lifestyle’ being one of them).

Art has become the pillar of his life since then. “Doing art gives me joy, even if it gets difficult, I will still stick with art because I choose happiness over everything else.” He states. “I started with drawing people and they actually look alike so I continued to develop my skills further. When I got to learn with highly-experienced people and built a strong foundation for myself, my concepts transitioned to something I miss the most: home”. Having left home since the age of 15 to study his art career in Chiang Mai, his home is a place dear to his heart, so being able to relive the memories through his paintings hold a lot of personal meaning towards the artist.

As a university student, Thanpisit gathered financial income by selling his art in local markets, which he explains as a fun experience and also became the first time he incorporated his rural background in his work. After graduating, the desire to seek knowledge and develop as a professional artist grew stronger which led him to do a masters degree in arts at Silpakorn University. To prepare for the application, he worked on his portfolio — attending countless art competitions and occasionally receiving awards as a result. Some of the works that didn’t receive acknowledgement were improved and sent to other competitions.

Style

He successfully got accepted into Silpakorn University where he majored in Painting. At the time, his professor suggested he change his art genre, but he refused because of his strong expertise in Super-realism. Following many exams and comments made by his tutors, his art style shifted to the more traditional side and became what it is today. “I remember exactly how my style changed; my professor had assigned me with a task where I had to convey deep emotion with my work. My interpretation of the task turned into the style I stick with to this day,” He recounts. Eventually, he changed his major to Thai Art. “Personally, both my style of art and techniques vary because I’m still all for learning and am open to opportunities for myself to learn and improve. I don’t want to restrict myself from any further development and most importantly, put a limit on my future ideas,” He explains.

In the present time, he has a gallery at the Central Department Store in Chiang Mai and opened a class for young artists eager to learn. “As a kid who used to learn art with my teacher, I see the influence that teachers have on children. My teacher used to buy art tools for me if I was ever missing anything. They also took me to competitions that expanded my horizons and experiences because I got to see other artists’ work. I’d like to give this opportunity to the children learning with me by supporting them with whatever I can,” He clarifies. His class currently provides all the working tools necessary for free.

His artworks reflect upon what he learned in his university life: depicting emotion through simple and an uncomplicated style of painting. The basic brush strokes portrays his imaginary vision — although it may look ambiguous, he is able to identify objects in his painting with ease. “I view my art as a way to conserve this local lifestyle of mine. This is also a way of recounting a lifestyle that’s slowly disappearing from our culture. If a simple painting can make people better preserve this way of life, I’m more than glad to be doing this,” He expresses.

Awards

• 1992​ : Outsanding Award in Vocational School Categery at 4h “For Best Things in Live”Toshiba (Thailand) Art Exhibition.
• 1995​ : Outstanding Award at 5th Rajamangkala Samphan Art Contest.
• 1996​ : Outstanding Award in contemporary art Category at Singapore Airlines Art Contest and be Thailand’s representative to jain a field trip to Singapore.
• 1997​ : 1st Prize from Siam TV Art Contest.
• 1997 : 1st Prize from Mitshubishi 2nd Art Contest.
• 1997​ : Outstanding Award from 14th Young Contemporary Arts Festival Contest.
• 1998​ : 1st Gold Singha Award from Boonrawd Brewvery Ltd.
• 1999​ : Horable Award from “Beautiful Sea,Beautiful Scences” 5th Art Contest by Chonburi Sriburapa.
• 2000​ : Gold Medal Award from Bualuang 24th Thai Traditional Drawing Contest.
• 2000 : Outstanding Award from Bualuang Master Painting for Embroidery for Silpacheep Foundation under HM Queen Sirikit Patronage at Bangkok Bank.
• 2001​ : Outstanding Award Master Painting for Scarves entitled “Rueng Khao” of Chitrada Foundation.
• 2002​ : 2nd Prive from “King in Artists Hearts” Contest by ICC Intenational Ltd.
• 2002 : Certificate Award at 17th PTT Art Exhibition.
• 2002 : Selected to draw at the closing ceremony of APEC by HM Queen Sirikit.
• 2004​ : Horable Award at 1st Samart Art Contest in 2004 to celebrate Smart Corporation’s 50th anniversary.
• 2006​ : 3rd Prize in Drawing at the 3rd Amata Arts Awards 2006.

Solo Exhibitions

• 2000​ : “Warm Lifestyle 1” Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel. Bangkok.
• 2002​ : “Warm Lifestyle 2” River City Shopping Complex. Bangkok.
• 2010 : Post-Flooding of Life
• 2019 : “The old way to the new generations” by Thanpisit Saenchun.

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 1995​ – 13th Young Contemporary Arts Festivals.
• 1997​ – Contemporary Arts Exhibition in Japan.
• 1996-2002 – 11th -14th and 16th PTT Art Exhibitions.
  ​ – ASEAN Art Exhibition by Phillip Morris.
  ​ – 12th “For Best Things in Live” Toshiba (Thailand) Art Exhibition.
  ​ – Kasikorn Bank Art Exhibition to Commemorate HM The King’s 72nd Birthday with 72 Artists.
• 2000​ – Drawing Contest for textile embroidery by Bangsai Arts and Crafts Centre.
• 2001​ – Art Exhibition of Chiang Rai Artists to Commemorate 100th anniversary of Mae Fah Luang
  – 25th Bualuang Art Exhibition.
• 2002​ – 4th Panasonic Contemporary Art Festival.
  ​ – “ Sen Silp Thai ” Art Exhibition at Baan Bangkok, Bangkok.
  ​ – “12 Thai Inages” Art Exhibition.
• 2003​ – 14th “For Best Things in Live” Toshiba (Thailand) Art Exhibition.
  ​ – Art Exhibition at the opening ceremonyattended by HM Queen Sirikit.
  ​ – 17 Sala Muang Pan Art Exhibition by Sala Muang Pan Group.
• 2004​ – Participated as a committee in the construction of Contemporary Art Hall in Chiang Rai.
  ​ – 26th Bualuang Art Exhibition.
  ​ – 6th Panasonic Contemporary Art Festival.
  ​ – “Chiang Rai Art” Exhibition at The National Museum Bangkok.
  ​ – Guest artist at New angle of Arts at Bualuang Art Forum.
• 2005​ – Selected to be a part of “The Beppu Asia Biennale of Contemporary Art 2005 at Beppu Art Museum, Japan.
• 2006​ – Art Exhibition The Northern Mist, 9 Art Gallery.
• 2007​ – “Artist Self Portrait” The Silom Galleria Bangkok Thailand.
• 2008​ – Art Exhibition “Ambience zest way of Life & Beauty at Amari Water gate Hotel.
  ​ – Exhibition “Small Homes in The Small Town, The Silom Galleria Art Space.
• 2009​ – The Second Thai Art Exhibition by Native-Lanna graduates/Gallerie PanisaChiang Mai.
• 2010​ – Art Megong Subregion : Lanna-Sip Song Panna at Art and Culture Bureau Rajabhat Chiang Rai.
  ​ – Art Megong Subregion : Sip Song Panna-Lanna at Sip Song Panna Art Exhibition Hall Yunnan Province Chaina.
  – Art Exhibition “Sanchai Saiyai Silpakram” The Faculty of Art Alumni at Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna.
• 2011 – KASIKORNBANK Golden Paintbrush Painting Competition in the Celebrations on The Auspicious Occasion of His Majesty The King’s 84 th Birthday Anniversary 5 th December 2011
  -The 4th Thai contemporary Art Exhibitio“ Planupap Hang Julasilpa”
• 2012 -1nd ArtBridge ChiangRai Art Exhibition
• 2013 -ARTIST help out EarhtQuake disaster vimtims Chiangrai 5.5.2014
  – “SMALL PAINTING EXHIBITION ”
  – The 2nd ArtBridge ChiangRai Art Exhibition
• 2014 – 9th ARTBRIDGE CHIANGRAI ART EXHIBITION