Pursuits
Suwannee “Nino” Sarabutra on Life, Love and Her Current Exhibition at MOCA’s New Art Space
Artist and sculptor SUWANNEE “NINO” SARABUTRA, known for her arresting installation works, chats with Bruce Scott about life, love, her current exhibition at MOCA’s new riverside art space, and everything in-between
In mid-December the Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River officially opened to the public, and if you’ve been inside, you’ll know that the hotel’s interior is literally overflowing with artistic flourishes, large and small. With such an emphasis on aesthetics, it’s perhaps not surprising that this newly launched property also contains its very own art gallery, known as the Art Space by MOCA at Four Seasons. As the name suggests, this new venue has been created in partnership with Bangkok’s famed Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and the artist who has the honour of inaugurating this space is Suwannee “Nino” Sarabutra – known for her large-scale installations that often ruminate on death, but ultimately celebrate life.
Nino has developed a strong affiliation with MOCA, and her current exhibit ‘Raining Room’ – in which a room is filled with thousands of porcelain hearts illuminated in the dark – has been extended well beyond its initial closing date, which was supposed to be back in May of 2019.
“It might go for another few months,” she informs me. “There’s still a queue. You have to wait about half an hour to get in. It’s quite popular!” Her installation pieces are known for generating quite a buzz, and one of her most acclaimed works of this kind – which dates back to 2012 – saw the floor of Ardel’s Third Place Gallery (in Thong Lor) covered in 125,000 tiny white, individually crafted porcelain skulls. The show was entitled ‘What Will You Leave Behind?’, and visitors to the gallery were invited to walk barefoot over these miniature reminders of mortality, while simultaneously contemplating their own ultimate fate.
“They’ve been walked on everywhere,” Nino points out with a mix of pride and amusement. “At Ardel the first time, then it moved to Singapore, New York, Venice, and then the Bangkok Art Biennale in 2018, where I put them around the white stupa at Wat Prayoon.”
“It’s therapeutic and meditative to walk on,” she goes on to say, although she adds that her message has occasionally been misinterpreted. “People have said I’m obsessed with death, but I’m not. I’m obsessed with life because I think death reminds us to enjoy life fully.”
As the now 50-year-old artist recounts the details of her own life, during our chat over coffee in the sun-filled lounge at The Four Seasons, it definitely sounds to me like one that has been, and continues to be, lived and enjoyed fully. Born in Ubon Ratchathani – “To a farming family,” she says – Nino actually spent most of her life in Bangkok, where her mom used to run a restaurant. She studied art at Silpakorn University, concentrating on ceramics, but was, she admits, “Pulled into advertising before I even graduated.”
“I worked in advertising for 18 years. After I quit Leo Burnett in 2002, I went to England to visit my sister who runs a restaurant there. And, just by chance, I got invited to do a residency at the Sculpture Academy [now Art Academy] London. It was my coming back to ceramics.”
“I started to work full-time as an artist in 2008,” she continues. “So that year I really cut off all my advertising work. To do ceramics you need energy and strength, so I was aware that I would need to leave advertising while still fit and healthy, because I can’t do this as a retirement career.”
In 2009 she held her first solo ceramics show at Bangkok’s historic Neilson Hays Library. Entitled ‘Exploring Love’, it featured a collection of large, wall-mounted hearts the artist had designed. “I sold about 60 percent of the work, and it gave me the confidence to keep going. I had a second show at Neilson Hays the following year, and then Ardel invited me to exhibit at their Thong Lor space.”
Since that time Nino has had several solo art shows at Ardel, which have variously showcased her work in ceramics, porcelain, hand-blown glass, print-making, and other mediums and materials. Her current solo exhibition, to launch the Art Space by MOCA at Four Seasons, goes by the name ‘Eat | Drink | Love : Celebrating Life’, and it brings together a number of visual motifs which have been recurring themes in her work over the years.
The most striking thing viewers will notice upon entering the gallery are the life-size pop bottles, made of unglazed porcelain, hanging from the ceiling. These opaque white bottles (which also appeared in Nino’s 2015 show ‘What Are We Drinking?’) are illuminated via motion detectors when people walk past. And when the light inside turns on, the message on the side of each bottle is fully revealed. The words – joy, sugar, problem, sensation, experience, temptation, diabetes, etc. – represent the various reasons one might have for choosing a drink, and in total there are 365 of these hanging bottles. “Well, we drink every day,” Nino muses.
Also suspended from the ceiling are 4,000 unglazed porcelain butterflies, gathered in clusters, which make lovely tinkling noises when touched. “To me, the butterfly embodies beauty and grace. I guarantee that any time they make an appearance, their movement alone will bring you joy. The butterfly has a short life, but it’s beautiful life,” she says philosophically.
Underneath the suspended butterflies and bottles sits a 12-metre-long table displaying Nino’s striking Black Ripple tableware line of bowls and plates. “I design them for my parties,” she says. “I host a lot of dinners and lunches at home. I live by myself, so I love having people around. And for Thai food you need big plates and bowls for sharing. But I never find anything big enough for my parties, so I just make them.”
For me, however, the most compelling aspect of this latest show is the wall covered in 201 hand-crafted, hand-glazed ceramic hearts. Each heart is dated, with some going all the way back to 2008, and each has a special meaning for the artist herself. Some are decorated with words in English, some have words in Thai, some display purely visual designs, and one has on it a nine-line poem the artist composed for a friend who was in a coma (since recovered). As Nino and I walk past this wall of hearts, pausing at intervals to discuss the design or the meaning, I enquire about the significance of the actual shape itself.
“The heart was my first show; 60 of them at Neilson Hays,” she explains. “At that time, I wanted to make something simple that anyone can relate to. I want to make my art accessible for common people. A heart is a heart. You don’t have to talk about the subconscious or abstraction or anything.”
“I think that’s one thing I like about doing art – the interaction with people. Their actions and the conversation that revolves around the idea of experiencing the work. I like the work to say something, and I like to hear what people say when they interact with the work.”
One heart that captures my attention has “Believe In Love” written across it, but it also bears the kind of stitchmarks patients have after undergoing bypass surgery. I remark that with this heart, like almost all her others, she hasn’t tried to conceal the cracks, or other so-called flaws.
“Imperfections are part of life. I think it’s natural. Is your life perfect?” she asks me, with a knowing grin.
As for future endeavours, Nino reveals that she has a small project coming up this month which has her working with John Savage, the curator from the Singapore Art Museum. Of course, it’s only her artwork that will be travelling to Singapore, due to the Covid situation and continuing travel restrictions. But, she admits, it’s not something she minds terribly.
“I’m sick of being in Heathrow, or JFK, and traveling is not a joyful experience anymore,” she sighs. “I’ve seen enough.”
“It’s nice to be in my studio and work, and if I want to relax I go kitesurfing. I don’t mind staying on one beach and kitesurfing for an entire month. I go to Pranburi, which has the best wind. Just a little fishing village, with fresh seafood, and a good group of friends, where you feel comfortable and life is not too expensive.”
Clearly this is a woman who doesn’t need anything – not even a roomful of skulls – to remind her to enjoy life fully.
