Growing up in Thailand with a Christian school education, Korakrit Arunanondchai hardly considered himself an artist. Fast-forward a few years and the world knows him as the “denim artist”, a creative that composes sculptures out of the world’s most classic and timeless fabric. This integration of denim also speaks to Arunanondchai’s interest in popular culture.
“The fire is gone but we have the light” is an exhibition on display at Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum. Arunanondchai, one of the featured artists of the exhibition, will give a presentation about his art style and method on March 3. The installation features two panels that have bleached denim stretched across them. One of these is accompanied with burned and bronzed rose vines that were burned on the denim and then constructed into a sculpture. The other has bleached denim-covered pillows set in front of a looped video installation to create an interactive space for viewers and the art.
The exhibition is a collaboration between Arunanondchai and his mentor Rirkrit Tiravanija. It features three pieces: Tiravanija’s Untitled 2008-11 (the map of the land of feeling)-I, II, III; Arunanondchai’s The fire is gone but we have the light and Painting with history in a room filled with people with funny names 3.
The exhibition was inspired by Tiravanija’s piece that the museum acquired in 2011, according to Andrea Inselmann, the curator of modern and contemporary art and photography at the museum. Inselmann explains that when she thought about displaying the piece it seemed as though it might not be enough to fill a gallery, however, upon being introduced to Arunanondchai’s work she was able to think of a way to put it together.
“Several years ago I went to New York. I tried to go see shows and stuff and I went to PS1 in Long Island City, the MoMA affiliate. I was introduced to Korakrit’s work and he had a big show there and I watched some other videos by him. I realized in one of the videos he said that Rirkrit was his mentor and his teacher and I said; Oh, oh that’s interesting and I thought that kind of would be nice,” she said.
Arunanondchai was Tiravanija’s student at Columbia University where he obtained a master’s degree in fine arts. Prior to this, he interned with Tiravanija during his junior year of college while he attended the Rhode Island School of Design.
“People told me that he was obviously the one that I should try and get an internship with,” Arunanondchai said.
As an intern, Arunanondchai organized Tiravanija’s bookshelf in his New York City apartment while he was traveling. He archived texts written about his mentor and learned about him this way. This inspired him to apply to Columbia University to have the opportunity to work with him.
Arunanondchai was one of 42 students and interns that participated in the creation of Tiravanija’s piece. The piece is a 90 foot long print and took about three years to complete. It wraps around a wall in the exhibition space and the viewer must walk along it to notice the intricate detail.
As she discussed Arunanondchai’s denim sculpture instalments, Inselmann explains that his relationship with Tiravanija influenced his art and has been the inspiration for many of his pieces.
“So, Korakrit kind of appropriated, with Rirkrit’s agreement and permission; he sort of appropriated the type style and you see the type style here in the title: The sun is gone but we have the light. That was on one of Rirkrit’s paintings and so he kind of reused that so there is a collaborative aspect to this show,” she said.
During the talk, Arunanondchai discussed his Thai heritage, his journey as an artist studying in America and his collaboration with Tiravanija.
“The interactions I had in Columbia with him were quite interesting. I feel like when he does critique he does… he’s sort of the main person that’s kind of like that flagship artist for a kind of movement of art as a relational aesthetic,” he said.
Inselmann explains that Arunanondchai has become well known for his use of denim as a medium.
“He has sort of fashioned over the past few years, he has fashioned this image of the denim painter. He’s sort of become the denim painter and when you think about denim you think about pop culture,” she said.
She discusses the different ways denim has been introduced into various cultures and how different fashions come about, explaining that Arunanondchai’s work makes references to that.
“He’s really sort of in a way commenting on some of this with his denim work in the video that you can see,” she said as a scene of young Thai men all dressed in denim came to a close on the 25-minute video loop.
Sunny Leerasanthanah, a student at Ithaca College and an audience member at the talk said that she felt connected to Arunanondchai’s work as she also hails from Thailand.
“He successfully identifies essential things in Thai culture (obsession with soccer teams; crocodile farms; buddhist mythology) and synthesizes it with Western culture that has seeped into the Thai mainstream,” she said.
