Biography
I was born in Khon-Khan, Thailand in 1965. The first school I attended was the Demonstration School which allowed me to use my imagination and open to the artist's way. During the school year, I would do better in art than in the other subjects. My interest in art increased every day. When I was 14, my work was submitted for international competition. I won three awards in a row. I felt good about my talent, and I knew in my heart that I wanted to grow up to be an artist.
This was the first time I aimed my future toward art, but everything wasn't as easy as I thought. My family was concerned about my future. I changed my direction to architecture school. After I graduated I always remember what my mom said to me: "The only thing she could give me was an education, which I already had". Now, the future is up to me, I decided to come to Amercia, to follow my dream as an artist. It took me four years to save money for school by working at my Aunt's restaurant. In 1992, I was able to go to Academy of Art College to complete my Masters in Fine Art. I graduated in 1994 and that is when my art career began.
Honestly, I'll be painting almost every day, pretty much every day, sometimes, I need a break, but I've been creating one or two paintings a day. I'll create nearly 250 paintings a year, only 20% of them go to the gallery, and the others, I just paint over. I paint on top of them. I've been thinking that if I keep painting every day that will make me learn faster and make me become a great painter. The more I paint, the more I learn. But so far, I haven't done a perfect painting yet.
I didn't realize that my background in architecture school was going to be helpful in my painting. When I went to architecture school, I felt so bad that I didn't have a chance to go to art school. But now, I am thankful for that, what I learned there was is a skill of perspective, which not a lot of people have. I can create the composition that I want in my painting. I also use the curve lines or the diagonal to change the whole feeling. When I paint in my studio, I can hear the music from the street: The cars passing by, the people talking, a baby crying, the children from the playground. That's what I hear and this becomes an element in my painting because my ears, my eyes, and my feelings are connecting in the painting.
People have a lot of reactions when they see my work. Some of them tell me that it really disturbs them, and some of them really seem to like it. People have said that the feeling just captures San Francisco. Others say: "Hey, this feels like an earthquake". Some often recognize the actual location from the painting. I want you to feel movement like you are just talking to my painting. I want you to experience what I feel and the way I see. Your reaction to my work challenges me toward new ideas. When I use color in my paintings I start using my imagination and base the real colors from nature, but just a little bit, I add more intensity in my color than the way it looks naturally. After I change one color, I have to create a new contrasting color. Even in the shadows you can play a lot of color to make it alive. But when you look at the real place long enough, your eyes start getting tired and colors start showing up. There is a lot of colors in there. You're not going to believe it and you have to try it.I had been painting Cityscapes for four to five years. Then I just wanted to expand to Figurative and Cityscape at the same time. I want my Figurative work to have impact and the same movement as my Cityscapes, by using the same kind of perspective.
I grew up in a big family and all my brothers and sisters were studying architecture and engineering. I think it was only me that had an interest in art. I just wanted to be an artist and nobody really supported me in the art school. They said when you grow up you'll be a starving artist and you will never make it happen. My second brother was close to me, and he wasn't like that. He told me, just don't give up your dream no matter what you study,