Curator: Tang Yifei

Artist: James Prapaithong

Hive Center for Contemporary Art is thrilled to announce the first solo exhibition in Asia of James Prapaithong, a Thai artist who lives and works in London. The exhibition, “Hive Becoming XLVI James Prapaithong: Whisper”, will be on view at the Hive Becoming space in Shanghai. This show is curated by Tang Yifei and will feature the artist’s most recent series of works on canvas.

James Prapaithong’s paintings constantly attempt to retrieve, from fading memories, what might be considered eternal moments, those often subtle yet fixed moments of shimmering sensuality. The natural landscapes he obsessively encapsulates – the sun, the stars, the moon, the trees, the water, etc. – are all tangible and perceptible existences of faith; James’s most secure inner space is externally manifested through these elements, classically referenced in painting, as his delicate brushstrokes embody sentiments in the landscapes depicted. Here, the extent of painting becomes a channel that allows repeated retreats to the once-existing or forgotten places of life, in which the more detached remoteness is, in fact, something of a homecoming, and where every beam of light on canvas passes through layers of clamour and emerges from the past with certainty.

The exhibition “Whisper” presents a series of recent essayistic paintings by the artist that explore the depths of the cosmos from the colour of eventide against the backdrop of the hours of darkness. Different from the visual logic of senses, “whisper” elicits a more low-frequency rhythm of self-talk, evoking empathy through multiple perceptions. Beginning with a window that provides a distant view, James’s perspective gradually departs from the ‘home’ on the ground and approaches the moon and the romantic fantasy of the universe through the clouds. The external landscape insinuated in this psychological context is a narrative field of third space established by individual romantic imagination – a third possibility after the difference between the imaginary universe and the real landscape. It captures authentic personal memories and experiences while expanding the openness and fluidity with the artist’s earnest and delicate brushstrokes. Shades of blue have always been James’s favourite to work with and layer to create different variations, as the sky is composed of varying degrees of blue throughout the day and night. The various stages of the stars and moon in the work – dispersed or gathered moons, remote or intimate halos – all create a nuanced flow of energy. These simultaneously micro and macro perspectives allow the viewer to sensually place themselves in the slow pace of time, possibly becoming a speck of stardust in these no man’s land.