Description
The STORY behind
This painting is about the story of Phra Unaruth who met Kinnaree (a half bird/half woman creature in the Buddhist heaven) in the Himmapan Forest (a legendary forest that locates at the hill of Himmanpan Mountain or the Himalayas). It is derived from the Unaruth drama which is the royal writing during the King Rama I period (1782-1809). Nontarit wants to present the story of Unaruth meeting Kinnaree in the Himmapan Forest to convey the nature of beauty. He brings out the peaceful and lively mountains onto the canvas while arranging it in the bird eye view to show distances in the traditional Thai painting style.
Himmapan Forest
Kinnaree
About the artwork
The painting presents with dark and foggy atmosphere but some brightness is also added to make it more interesting. A group of Kinnaree is highlighted on the left while a group of Unaruth is looking at the five Kinnaree gleefully. He also painted some Himmapan creatures, on the right, that are hanging out and drinking water. To create the the unity of the artwork, Nontarit applied color in cool tones to make it look mysterious yet peaceful. It offers the hidden dangers along with some excitements. The use of acrylic color appears to be very pleasing to him and he was able to add layers of color as much as he likes by painting from dark and gradually adding more light.
Nontarit is focusing on conveying the beauty of the atmosphere, scenery, habitats that are the characteristic of our nature. He also inserted some important Thai literatures through the process of Thai painting which has two dimensions and emphasize on the use of various colors to express the emotion of things. This is also to communicate narrative fantasies to an ideal beauty based on his concept and creative process.
Get to know artist
Nantawat Nontarit is a traditional Thai painting artist who graduated from the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts from Silpakorn University. He has been passionate and in love with art since he was in the elementary school. With his diligence, perseverance, patience, and practice, he is able to be successful and satisfied with his skills and expertise. Nontarit has Ajarn Chakrabhand Posayakrit, a national artist who is widely known as a puppet artist and portrait painter, as a guide for creating works and living life.
His artwork is a two-dimension traditional Thai painting that portray a story about Jataka, Buddha history, and his favorite Thai literature. Nontarit uses tempera paint and acrylic techniques to deliver painting of nature and landscapes. He creates moods and feelings of the character with beautiful colors and his ideal atmosphere.
Nontarit’s thinking and creation process
He begins to paint when his inspiration start to rise. Sometimes, when he finds interesting stories to paint, he seeks references for creativeness. Then he starts to picture the atmosphere of the picture in his mind before sketching original line drawings in order to create the painting.
Exhibitions
2015 – The 17th Student Art Exhibition at Muang Korn Contemporary Art Gallery, Nakhon Si Thammarat College of Fine Art
2016 – “ART EXHIBITION 18” at Muang Korn Contemporary Art Gallery, Nakhon Si Thammarat College of Fine Art
2021 – “ดิน Terra” Exhibition at 3-22 AUG
2022 – ERIA Art Thesis Exhibition, Silpakorn University
Awards
2012 – Silver Medal Award drawing and coloring activities, Arts and Crafts of Southern students
2012 – Bronze Medal Award of Floating Sculpture Competition, High School Fair
2012 – An Outstanding Award in Painting contest in a topic “Pak Phanang Kao Klai Pracha”, Thai Romyen
2013 – Gold Medal Award in Monochromatic Thai Painting Competition, High School Fair
2015 – An Honorable Award on the topic of the future of design. Art contest PTT Youth Southern Region 12th at Thaksin University, Songkhla Province