Tawatchai Puntusawasdi produces architectural three-dimensional sculpture in hardwood, slate, organic fibres, and metal. In his Tilted series, ongoing since 2002, the artist plays with perception to challenge audiences’ understanding of volume and space, so prodding us to consider philosophical and spiritual questions.
Tawatchai Puntusawasdi was born in Bankok, Thailand in 1971 and currently lives and works in Chiangmai. He pursued his art education at Chiangmai University (BFA), and then Silpakorn University (MFA). Based in Chiangmai, he produces architectural three-dimensional sculpture in hard-wood, slate, organic fibres, and various types of metal. In his Tilted series, ongoing since 2002, the artist plays with visual perception and physical balance to challenge audiences’ understanding of volume and space.
In so doing, Tawatchai prods his viewers to consider philosophical and spiritual questions, his sculpture/installations translating complex ideas about uncertainty and transcendence into tangible form. His works also revolve around concepts of reality, so tangentially referencing Buddhist thinking. A student of the seminal Thai artist Montien Boonma (1953-2000), Tawatchai marshals formal elegance and grandiose scale to produce works that are simultaneously cerebral and visually seductive.
Tawatchai has exhibited in Japan, the United States, Europe, Australia, Taiwan, and wider Southeast Asia. He has participated in both the Venice and Sydney Biennales and has twice been awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.