Viruch Pikhuntod

MASKS

I first discovered ‘the mask’ when I was a child and we made them as a toy in a school lesson. In traditional Thai culture they are used a lot in story telling and performance as part of the traditional Hindu classic, the Ramayana. In the stories there are good and bad characters, and when the actor performs he wears a mask to act out a role. When the performance finishes he takes off the mask and become himself.

I am interested in these ideas because people wear masks more and more in contemporary society, or maybe not? They may be friends, normal people, bosses or staff. As long as they see power in their hand, the transformation from innocence can take place? The door will open bit by bit until the person who wears it believes in it. I only use animal masks, and some animals are bullies and some are not. I want to explore human behaviour and I use the mask as a metaphor for this.

I choose to use materials such as found paper and painted Thai fabric because these materials have their own quality.

In my paintings I have developed the mask idea further, and show more parts of the body than just the head, such as the hand and the foot. In this way I can say more. Showing the body language reveals a great deal about a person, and I can reveal their actions and thoughts.

I also use the triangle and the dot, and both these symbols have meaning in traditional Thai culture and are part of my memory of growing up in Thailand. For example, the triangle represents a pagoda in Budhhism. Dots were part of my memory of growing up when people applied makeup to their faces, and assumed another mask. I continue to use these symbols but in my own way.