H Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by venerable Thai-born artist Somboon Hormtientong, regarded as a pioneer of abstract painting in Thailand. 
In this solo exhibition Hormtientong offers a semi-abstract lens through which to consider his interests. Pairing the deliberacy of his animal motifs with a coating of seemingly free-form brush strokes, the paintings meld a distinctly European influence - a result of his years based in Germany - with the saltings of calligraphic marks that underline an allegiance to Asian artistry.
 
Time spent riding by motorbike through parts of Northern Thailand recently moved Hormtientong to assume a spiritual stance on his surroundings. With spirit houses devoted to each curve of the suburban-scape, Hormtientong recognized a sense of animism present in the recurring offerings of elephant figurines. A soul pervading both the spiritual and material world through essence of true being, this meditative framework acts as a stark contradiction to the ways in which the natural world has digressed within the organized chaos of commodification. The antithesis of spirit and material is the unison of government and tourist. Thailand possesses what appears as an inexorable touristic market, characterized in monetary terms by a figure exceeding trillions. The byproduct of this synergy is the distended belly of Thailand's suffering ecology. In specific relation to the elephant, many Eco-tourist businesses have employed torture tactics to shrink the creature's sense of self, therefore enforcing submission in order to make physical interactions with tourists possible. In effect, the animal's conscious soul is repressed.

Hormtientong finds beauty within this blackness, working a primarily minimalist palette while also incorporating decisive passages of color to shape his paintings. His elephants are devoid of ornate inscriptions - his horses unendowed. Simple and identifiable subject matter prevails - a payment of respect to the subjugated forms.