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Pakaphong

"My name is Pakaphong Thongkaing. When I was little, times were hard and our family experienced financial difficulties. Only my father worked. He is a forester, a government official. My mom is a homemaker, and she looked after her three children. I am the middle child, and they call me by my nickname, Dam. My mom saved money so we could study. My older brother and I didn't get a chance to play with toys back then. He used to build houses from card boxes and he used leaves to make the roofs. Now he is an architect - and he's very cool.

"I, on the other hand, loved robots. I used to watch them on TV. I never had a toy robot to play with, so I used to sketch them out from the cartoons on TV. I have quite a collection of robot drawings! However, my mother wasn't too pleased about it. She felt I should be studying rather than drawing robots. We had quite a few discussions about it, until she banned me from drawing altogether. She wanted me to concentrate on my studies and become a government official like my dad. I understood that my mom only wanted what was best for me, so I did as she told me to do. I wanted to make her happy.

"Ever since I can remember, I've always liked to draw. I am good at delineation as well as painting human figures. When I finished junior high school, many of my friends went on to study art, but my parents didn't support my interest in art. They wanted me to finish high school, but I didn't pass the test, so they agreed to send me to Chiang Mai's Vocational School, to study photography. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was near enough to art. After that I went to the Rajaphat University, to study Mass Communications.

"During this time I felt that I had lost myself and my interests. Then, toward my last year in university, I was called to military service, according to Thai draft laws. Those two years were good for me, because they helped me find myself again.

"When I finished my military service, I met an old friend from school who worked in an art-related field. He convinced me to work with him in wax icon molding and resin work. About two or three months later, I persuaded another friend to open a small studio and work from home. I worked in this field for several years, first with one friend, then with another, then back with the first one. In the end, I realized that my true passion was for painting - and I haven't stopped since.

"I've been painting professionally for two years now and during this time I've had the opportunity to paint an allegory of Buddha's life for my hometown. One part tells of Buddha, but in Brahman life. Buddha lived before as such. In my hometown there's a very old temple called Sridon Chai. It needed to be restored, but at first the government didn't have the budget for it. All the neighbors got together and somehow got enough to finance the restoration. However, when they finished the work, they realized the murals had been severely damaged. So I volunteered to restore them. This experience has taught me a good lesson; that is to make my art the best that I can and not race against anyone else, rather to challenge myself and try to improve each time.

"I have lived many good experiences that proved to me that art is what makes me feel alive and complete. Art had been missing from my life for more than ten years, and thanks to that old school friend, it came back into my life. I have learned much from very talented artists, and some lessons I have had to learn on my own. Through art, I get to know myself. I want to create the best paintings, and I want to paint for the rest of my life.

"I want to thank everyone who has seen and appreciated my art. This is the best time of my life. I am proud of my work, and do my best to improve every day."