100 Tonson Gallery proudly presents PANYA VIJINTHANASARN & ANDREW STAHL:  CONVERSATIONS, COLLABORATIONS AND NEW PAINTINGS, an exhibition of individual and collaborative paintings, prints, and drawings by Panya Vijinthanasarn and Andrew Stahl. 

Both former alumina of Britain’s prestigious Slade School of Art, Panya has recently been appointed Dean of Bangkok’s Silpakorn University, while also undertaking a large 31-metre mural commission for the new Suvarnabhumi Airport, and was responsible for the new design look of THAI airways planes and lounges. Head of Undergraduate Painting at London’s Slade School of Art, Andrew has been Artist-in-Residence at both Chiangmai and Silpakorn Universities.  

These two prolific artists have developed a connectivity that flows deeper than their shared education base, resulting in a visual dialogue that explores a similar obsession and preoccupation with the historical legacy, present condition, and future relevance of the medium of painting. From differing painterly perspectives, both artists use idiosyncratic Thai and global experiences to propel a sincere belief in the internationalism of art. 

Since first exhibiting in Thailand in the mid-eighties, British artist Andrew Stahl has been a regular visitor to Asia and considers Thailand as an underlying inspiration to much of his art. In a similar manner Panya’s British residency during the mid-eighties helped him break loose from the constraints of traditional temple mural painting as he oversaw the embellishment of Wat Buddhapadipa (Britain’s first Buddhist temple in London’s Wimbledon). 

Through personal compositional and emotive arrangements, Panya attempts to infuse fresh perspectives to traditional Thai visual iconography. Gradually his art has moved from specific narratives to evoke more spiritual interpretations of humanity’s state of being. 

Andrew is also hooked by classical art styling and the symbolism that runs beneath, though he is equally mesmerised by the modern techno-urban landscape of monster billboards, flickering TV screens, and mass transportation networks. Through Andrew’s sensory immersion, the mundane are elevated to fantastical and surreal. 

Through verbal and painterly exchange, PANYA VIJINTHANASARN & ANDREW STAHL:  CONVERSATIONS, COLLABORATIONS AND NEW PAINTINGS is an open-ended venture executed in the spirit of creativity that has no agendas other than providing a unique opportunity for these two artists to react and interact through explorative endeavour. Individual or collaborative, their sumptuous renderings acknowledge both the individual, as well as common, environmental determiners and artistic lineage.