The gold leaf symbolizes good luck and wealth. It is often used as a decorative element in classical Thai paintings, also as metaphors for wealth, power, and happiness. Most classical Thai and Indian paintings have gold leaf inlay. The gold leaf is also applied on the figure of Buddha during religious holidays. The binder used is garlic. This body of work is like the recordings of my varying meditative states.
There are two underlying themes in this body of work. A "vihara*" (Pali language) is a monastic "residence" or "adobe". My experience with insight meditation has carried over into my art practice. On the spiritual level, the variations of brush strokes and marks in the limited earth palette reflect my meditative states. The gables of Buddhist temples as well as motifs in Thai art inspire the triangular shapes.
The other theme is integration of East and West in art. I use my artwork as a vehicle to reflect and document contemporary trends in Western and Eastern societies. The paintings symbolize my dual cultural and national identity. I was born in Thailand and raised in the U.S. The paintings represent my state of being, straddling two cultures at once. On canvas is where these two worlds can be in dialogue with each other.
Pali - The canon of texts (see Tipitaka) preserved by the Theravada school and, by extension, the language in which those texts are composed.
