About 50 years ago, when Bangkok still retained some of its old Asian charm and near-colonial elegance, and many people lived and travelled on the khlongs (canals), I was invited to an informal dinner party with a group of young friends at the house of Rolf von Bueren, a German businessman who had decided to settle in Thailand. That evening was the first time I set eyes on a drawing by Thawan Duchanee and I was immediately impressed by its beauty and complexity; it was a picture of a large owl with intricate drawings masterfully crammed within its body, hanging on a wall of Rolf’s house. Incredibly it had been created by just using a simple ballpoint pen.
Rolf had a remarkable aesthetic taste and a unique ability to recognize artistic talent and was one of the first people in Thailand to realize that we had a young genius in the form of Thawan Duchanee. While many people in the effete and commercial Thai art world were repelled by some of his bold and violent images, Rolf saw in them the hand of genius and vision. Rolf and Thawan became close friends and Rolf helped to promote Thawan’s work both in Thailand and abroad. I was fortunate to know Rolf through his work with the Thai textile industry and my work in the finance sector.
I asked Rolf to introduce me to Khun Thawan and we met at his humble lodgings where he was allowed to stay by Princess Panthip with another up-and-coming Thai artist, Prapan Srisouta, near the Goethe Institut.
Rolf introduced me by using my nickname ‘Raad’ which means rhinoceros in Thai. Most Thais have both a formal first name (Aswin in my case) as well as a nickname. Surnames are hardly ever used. In my family I was the youngest of five brothers and all of my older brothers have fierce animals as nicknames. I think my parents were hoping for a daughter as their fifth child, but when they got another son they decided to give him Raad (rhinoceros) as his nickname, perhaps as a kind of humorous protest. However there is another reason that ‘Raad’ is not used as a nickname, that is ‘Raad’ is a term commonly used to describe a girl who is unusually flirtatious or sexually aggressive. As far as I know nobody else uses ‘Raad’ as a nickname. It should not have been a problem as I was also called ‘Lek’ as the youngest member of the family, but we also had a servant called ‘Lek’ so the name ‘Raad’ stuck with me to avoid confusion.
Thus the name ‘Raad’ may have caught Thawan’s attention, reinforced by my giving him an art book about rhinoceroses, and he allowed me to acquire his only drawing of a rhinoceros when we first met. Thawan has now become very famous, but his drawings and paintings have been mainly of buffaloes and eagles and other fierce animals. Very few were rhinoceroses, and all those he did draw, he either gave (including one for my birthday) or sold them to me. Thawan died in 2014 and is sorely missed, although his work lives on in many museums and grand buildings, but, personally, I am sad there will be no more Thawan rhinoceroses.
Introduction by ASWIN KONGSIRI
Untitled (2010)
Ink on paper
26 x 29 cm
Untitled (2010)
Ink on paper
26 x 29 cm
Untitled (2010)
Ink on government document
21 x 29 cm
Untitled
Pencil on paper
25 x 29 cm
Untitled
Pencil on paper
21 x 34 cm
Untitled
Oil on paper
107 x 78 cm
SEE FULL STORY IN ARTIFACT ISSUE N°1