Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Abstract at Angkrit Gallery, Chiang Rai, Thailand


Natural Drawing (Sukhothai). Oil, Acrylic, and Collage on Canvas. 2010.
by Rene Smith.

Abstract: paintings by PAINTING DIVISION DEPARTMENT OF PRINTMAKING PAINTING SCULPTURE - FACULTY OF FINE ARTS - CHIANGMAI UNIVERSITY

Opens at Angkrit Gallery in Chiang Rai August 7, 2010. Through September 30.

Photos from The Siam Art Fair 2010


Pictured above: Bangkok Art House's booth


Please visit my Flickr site to see more photos from The Siam Art Fair, Bangkok 2010.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Siam Art Fair - Bangkok ArtHouse



Bangkok ArtHouse Gallery will be showing a collaborative painting that I made with Kade Javanalikikorn at the Siam Art Fair.
The Siam Art Fair will be held between the July 31 and August 8, 2010 at
Crystal Design Center. 40 galleries from across Thailand will participate.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Exhibition by Rene Smith & David Burke in Bangkok

DREAMING MY DREAMS WITH YOU
Paintings by DAVID BURKE & RENE SMITH

KOI ART GALLERY
43/12 Soi Sukhumvit 31
Bangkok, Thailand


JULY 15th to AUGUST 16th, 2010

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday July 15th


Rene Smith. Thailand's Least Visited National Park II. Oil on canvas 90 x 100cm.


David Burke. Acrylic and resin on canvas.


This exhibition showcases the paintings of two American artists, Rene Smith (New York) and David Burke (California). Both artists have recently held the one-year position of Visiting Lecturer in Painting at Chiang Mai University.

Dreaming My Dreams With You is an exhibition of new work by David Burke and Rene Smith made during their one year stay in Thailand. The paintings are a combination of ideas and techniques developed in the U.S. with images and concepts influenced by life in Thailand. Their work explores the way that traveling to and living in another culture mixes the visitor's actual experiences with dreams, fantasies, and hopes about new places. David Burke uses a unique and highly contemporary process of hi tech resins, gels, and acrylic paint to create his visually stunning semi-abstract paintings. Rene Smith uses a glazing technique based on traditional oil painting methods of the Renaissance to create paintings that are both highly realistic and dream-like. Although the two artists' work and techniques are very different, they have both been inspired by the experience of living as foreigners in Thailand. Both artists have been struck with the way that interior spaces flow into exterior spaces in Thailand, and the way that this causes the line between a private, interior space and a public, exterior space to blur.

This exhibition is the result of a true cultural exchange. David Burke and Rene Smith have been fortunate to spend a full year each in Thailand inside a predominantly Thai university. This experience has led to a very close relationship with Thai students and professors and a greater understanding between Thai and U.S. artists and art students. This exhibition is a reflection of their unique experience.

Contact: koi@koiartgallerybangkok.com

davidburke13@gmail.com
Gallery Phone: 662 662 3219
Gallery Mobile: 668 1 833 0690

Friday, April 16, 2010

Thai Artists in New York



There are just a few days left to see Pinaree Sanpitak's show Quietly Floating at Tyler Rollins Fine Art in Chelsea. The gallery will be showing another Thai artist later this month. Jakkai Siributr's exhibition Karma Cash & Carry will open on April 22nd.

Coming up in May is a group show in Dumbo, Brooklyn by The Thai Artists Alliance, a group of Thai artists and designers living in New York. The show opens May 25. More information is on their website: http://www.thaiartistsnyc.org/

Monday, March 15, 2010

Upcoming Exhibition in Bangkok



I will be returning to Thailand in July 2010 for a two person show with David Burke in Bangkok. The show will be at a new gallery that is opening soon. Please stay tuned for in progress pics and more!

This blog has been neglected due to the death of my trusty Macbook (RIP 2004-09) but I have a new computer and will be updating it again.

Thanks to Supapong Laodheerasiri for helping with the installation of my show at Chiang Mai University last year, and taking the great photo that I posted above.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Exhibition in Chiang Mai





René Smith
Greatest Hits 2008 - 2552
September 2- 14, 2009
Faculty of Fine Arts Gallery Chiang Mai University

Photos from the show

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Studio Update




The first painting from this series is finished! And two more in progress...

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Off to Laos




Dave and I are off to Laos for a new visa for him and a short vacation. After we get back I'll catch up on posting pictures from our trip to the south of Thailand last month.
Above are some new paintings I've been working on at school - I have a big studio there, but only for the summer.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

I am here



On Saturday Dave and I will head to a small island in Krabi in the South of Thailand with some of the other painting professors. We'll be gone for two weeks.

Mon Thaa Than Falls - Chiang Mai



This waterfall is less than 15 minutes from our house - a part of Doi Suthep National Park.


A great painting in the information center!

End of Semester - Student Work



I posted some images of student work from the end of semester reviews on my flickr site. My students' BFA show "Ending to Beginning" opens on Friday March 6 at 6pm at the Chiang Mai University Art Museum. It runs through March 30.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Lectures and Workshop in Bangkok

Last week Dave and I went to do a workshop called "Everything Has Its Cartography, Its Geography, Its Diagram" at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkabang in Bangkok. I gave a talk about my work, and we did the workshop with grad and post-grad students.


Dave presents some contemporary artists whose work relates to mapping. In this slide is an image from Mark Dion's project at Bartram's Gardens in West Philadelphia. For more about Dion's project see Fallon and Rosof's Artblog post.

The following day the students did their own mapping projects. They chose to "map" the area in front of the library.

Pictured above is Natnaran Bualoy, who interviewed a lady who had lived in the area for a long time about what the space was like before the library was built.


Pisitakun "Nat" Kuntalang made a series of small drawings recording what was in the sky every few seconds.


A giraffe's journey - Kasira Siriwattanakul, Piangpatu Thantavivattananont, and Supawadee documented this little giraffe taking the same path that we followed from the classroom to the site.


Students laying out string to map the word "Ladkabang" according to a design created by a computer program they wrote. This project was made by Manatsawee Torsuwan, Tanasan Kanakasem, and Kritsada Phakawatsuntorn.


My artist talk for the undergrads. The students were great and asked lots of interesting questions - for more than an hour!

Special thanks to Komson Nookiew for inviting us, arranging everything, and translating too.

More photos from the workshop here.

More photos of student work here.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Lamphun, Thailand



Watercolor and Gouache on Paper. 11 x 14 inches.

analogmemory by Nukarb and Sosharp at Pongnoi Artspace



Earlier this month Dave and I went to the opening of analogmemory at Pongnoi Artspace. Installed in the gallery was a little living room with tv, astroturf, many small photo albums to browse, and torn photographs on the walls.

More photos, including the accompanying wall text here.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Realistic Paint - Some Highlights





Some work from the end of the semester from my Painting II Students.
More here.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Painting Classes in Chiang Mai



I will be returning to Chiang Mai in July 2010, and I may be offering art classes there (in English) in the future. Please contact me if you are interested at ReneMSmith at gmail.com

(The above image is from a natural drawing made by Drawing IV students from Chiang Mai University on a trip I took with them last year)

Sofian Audry at Compeung


A visitor checking out the work.

There is a small residency program about 1/2 hour outside of Chiang Mai in Doi Saket. The Canadian artist Sofian Audrey recently showed the new media project that he created there over the last few months.
Check out the video of his project here:
Absences Video
And his website here:
http://www.sofianaudry.com/en/works/absences

My photos of his project and Compeung on flickr here.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Thailand's Least Visited National Park



Watercolor and gouache on paper.
11 x 14 inches.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My Friends - How I Have Missed You



Dave brought me some Gamblin Radiant White from the U.S.A.