Fasang Navaaran

The combination of colours, lines, and forms is the essence of Fasang Navaaran’s art. He perceives beauty in its simplicity. The sincerity of his work is revealed by the display of the materials’ natural substances. Often, found objects and colour hues are constructed and arranged into geometric forms. The appeal of his work is not in its order but in its harmonious composition.

Navaaran attended the College of Technology and Vocational Education (currently Rajamangala University of Technology Isan) in 1983. He studied Fine Arts for a year, then transferred to Architecture for three years before being forced to leave early due to financial problems.

At the time, there were few art scenes or academic art education outside Bangkok. The major influence in Nakhon
Ratchasima was Tawee Ratchaneekorn, a Silpakorn University graduate and a founder of the Fine Arts department, whom Navaaran regularly turned to. There were also a few art books in the library where he first saw work by Frank Stella. Another influence was Chavalit Soemprungsuk, a Thai artist who lived and worked in Amsterdam, a friend of Ratchaneekorn, who sometimes exhibited his work there.

Struggling but persisting, his breakthrough was when a Bangkok gallery discovered his work and organized a solo show in 1999. For the following decade, he held exhibitions regularly in Bangkok with abstract and mixed media work and was exposed to the capital’s art scene and resources. He was fascinated by the use of found and everyday objects by Robert Rauschenberg, the Thai pioneer Montien Boonma, the colour field work of Gene Davies, and many others.

This was followed by a period where his work shifted in a new direction. Through the internet, he came across work by a group of non-objective artists. The simplicity of their works impressed him. It also acted as a confirmation of what he had been doing all his life, creating art with limited resources, exploring non-conventional materials, and the idea that any object can be of value and an art piece. As a result, his work has become more minimal, using any materials he can find or afford.

He first showed this new development in 2011. In 2013, he was invited to participate in the Biennale Internationale d’Art Non Objectif, Pont-de-Claix, France, and has become part of a group of like-minded artists. Navaaran has continued to develop his work in this direction. He uses a wide range of materials, from something traditional, such as paint on canvas, to a mailbox, sawdust, cement, recycled paper, secondhand fabric, and wood.

Fasang Navaaran has participated in many group and solo exhibitions in Thailand and abroad, including Message, Museum of Contemporary Art Bangkok (2021), Form and Intent, Abstract-project, Paris (2019), painting*installations*objects, Gallery Kierat, Szczecin, Poland (2017), Are Different, Marsi Gallery, Bangkok (2013), Biennale Internationale d’Art Non Objectif, France (2013), A moveable model, Hof Art, Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre (BACC)(2011), Appropriate, H Gallery, Bangkok (2008), Swirling, Gusty Wind, Gallery 55, Bangkok (2005), ARTSingapore 2002 and Stream of Survival I, Gallery 55, Bangkok (1999).

He currently lives and works in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.