Alan Van Every is a Bangkok-based artist from New York who has recently had a solo exhibition at Hiromart Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. The exhibition was entitled “Theory of Everything” and included both paintings and sculptures that he had created, from his home in Bangkok, especially for this event. In this interview he talks about the concept behind this specific exhibition….
Voicu Mihnea Simandan: You live in Bangkok, but had just had an exhibition in Tokyo. How does that work?
Alan Van Every: Actually it works pretty well, I just made slightly smaller work for the show and packed it real nice in a box and EMS (public mailed) it to Tokyo (which was pretty cheap). All the works were started and finished in about a month and a week’s time and they arrived in good condition at the gallery two weeks ahead of the opening. I work smallish anyway so I was comfortable with the idea and wanted to have space around the works.
For a couple of reasons I wasn’t able to attend the opening in person but we did have a Skype connection during it and I was able to talk to several people there (there is also a translation issue when you show in another country). We also did do some of the arrangements for the show through Skype.
VMS: Opened in June 2010, Hiromart Gallery is a small storefront gallery located in the Bunkyo-ku district of Tokyo. Was this what you were looking for?
AVE: Yes. Although it is pretty small and a relatively new gallery, Hiromi Nishiyama, the lady who manages the place, runs it with professionalism. She was easy to work with and I enjoyed having a show there; it was great for me. I love having shows and she had an opening for one. Some of the other artists who have exhibited there are Annabelle Dorn, Sebastian Piras and Tomohiro Koizumi, to name just a few.
VMS: How was the exhibition received in Japan?
AVE: It went well, the gallery did very good press (PR materials and just getting the word out in general) and Hiromi seems to get quite a number of visitors. One man who is Japanese and lives here in Bangkok said he thought the works looked like Thailand, which was a comment that I was very pleased with. I am hoping he will do a studio visit with me here and have emailed him recently about it. I got an enormous response to things I posted on Facebook as well, which was a pleasant thing for me.
VMS: How many pieces did the exhibition include?
AVE: The exhibition was eleven small paintings and three wall sculptures made from coconut shells (also painted). I paint abstractly but the works are sort of intended to suggest things. I am very interested in points of view, as in from above or inside, very, very large as in space or very, very micro or smaller, small. I used this kind of as an inspiration for the works and title quite a few of them after science, i.e. quantum mechanics or space themes.
VMS: What was the concept behind these paintings and sculptures?
AVE: My concept statement, for the show was as follows: “I create paintings and sculptures that reflect and obsess about the world around us. Although abstract, they are intended to echo that world. I want viewers to get poetic interpretation of subjects that interest me but I want to leave it up to the viewer to see what they will, in each particular work. Most of my work has a landscape from above or within orientation. I have interests in quantum physics (very small), astrophysics (very large) and sexuality and which can be inferred from the works. I gravitate to these issues in the work because we as humans strive to understand the world around us and explore our imaginations through our interests. I see it as a very humanistic way of thinking. In my sculptures, I reuse materials that are natural and objects such as coconut shells which people discard. I am also inspired by the culture around me and the life I am leading as an expatriate here in Thailand.”
VMS: I know this was not your first solo exhibition abroad. Before you came to Thailand you lived in Korea where, in 2005, you had a solo show at the end of a three-month residency program run by the Korean Museum Of Contemporary Art at The National Art Studio at Changdong in Seoul. You participated in a group show at the same institution in 2006 as well. But, how about more recent shows?
AVE: In the last couple of years I was in three groups shows:
2012 – “Conflicts of Interests,” Curated by Brian Curtin, H Gallery, Bangkok Thailand.
2012 – “Spring Has Sprung,” Motus Fort, Tokyo, Japan
2011 – “No One in Particular, Except…,” Motus Fort, Tokyo, Japan
VMS: What are you working on right now?
AVE: I am doing more paintings and some other coconut sculptures, things have been going more slowly as we have a 11-month old child and I am getting used to working around him but in general I always paint and work. Life just keeps you busy sometimes.
VMS: What are your plans for the near and far future?
AVE: I am hoping to take my family back to the US, which is a trying process, so far! I love Thailand and in some ways don’t want to leave but it is very hard to find work that pays well enough to live on here with a family and without teaching certification. I used to work as an art teacher at an international school I Bangkok but since the Thai government changed the rules (about being certified to work at an international school) nothing pays well enough and life can be a struggle at times. I would be qualified for many more types of work at home as I have a lot of different kinds of experiences. I would probably find it easier to have shows there as well.
VMS: You have been living in Bangkok for six years. How has life in Thailand has influenced your work?
AVE: I love some aspects of Thai arts and life here in general. I use glitter and make kind of pointy things, which I guess you could say I get from the architecture and decoration of temples. The contemporary art scene here is vibrant, as well. I wish I could get to more openings and be more sociable but that is a bit difficult right now. Thai art has a complexity I like and feel at home with. I am an abstract artist though and that is not very in vogue at the moment here, to be honest. Also some contemporary Thai art is going through a kind of conceptual phase, that I admire but don’t relate much to as an artist. Oh! and paint dries really fast here!
VMS: Is it possible to make a living as a foreign artist in Thailand?
AVE: If you have money in the first place (and some fame for being an artist, would be helpful too), I would guess yes, it could be okay. I am not sure, honestly, I know a few and most seem to either float in and out of here or are hooked up in some sort of teaching gig. I think Asia (in general) is promoting Asia and it is not very inclusive. But I could be wrong and maybe I am not the best person to ask that.
VMS: It’s been a great pleasure.
Photography by Hiromart Gallery
March 18, 2013
Voicu Mihnea Simandan
Bangkok, Thailand
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