Bookshelf 8Q Singapore Art Museum (Collection of Singapore Art Museum), Singapore (2011)
With all book, the full value of their content is transacted when the book is read. However, in the case of art books, where heavy visual elements complement the written word, a person may skim through its pages, focusing only on the pictures and assume that s/he has satisfactorily understood its content. For an artist such as Larpjaroensook, who primary language is Thai, this case is not only habitual but also personal and circumstantial.
Bookshelf (2011) Mixed media installation: acrylic on canvas, wood: Dimensions variable
As an artist, he often feels frustrated and unfulfilled when “reading” such books, which are mostly written in English. His access to knowledge to a wider, more international and current practice of art is limited to the number of pictures illustrated in them. Through Bookshelf, Larpjaroensook reverses the function of these books, where they are now consumed directly through their visual and tactile quality.
These “books” are actually appropriated thick, impasto-styled acrylic paintings based on popular and coffee-table styled art books that are widely and internationally available. Traversing definitions, between the genres of painting and installation art, Bookshelf also reminds us of indoctrination and popularisation of certain artworks, artists and art practices today by authors who are typically made of establish international art critices, curators and taste-makers of the day. (For more info )
![bookshelf[final]_Page_02.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1d2b43_5a595e67842a44319d1b7e79d61a1d40~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_73,h_120,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/bookshelf%5Bfinal%5D_Page_02.jpg)
![bookshelf[final]_Page_42.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1d2b43_df727f80be0f45219f566a2014718ed1~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_73,h_120,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/bookshelf%5Bfinal%5D_Page_42.jpg)
