Bundit Puangthong is a Melbourne-based contemporary Thai artist. His vivid paintings incorporate elements of traditional Thai art, American pop art and contemporary street art in an attempt to strike a balance between the cultures in which he lives.
His work explores a diversity of themes; from his own understandings of Buddhism and how this is affected by life in Australia; through to issues of superstition and royalty in traditional Thai culture. Drawing on his traditional Lai Thai arts training, his paintings are rich in symbology, playing with language and deliberately using it incorrectly or making associations between words. He result is purposefully confusing the viewer and asks them to both decode the work and question its meaning.
On his canvasses the artist employs a range of mixed media including house paints, acrylics, oil sticks, spray paint and glues, and utilises a range of techniques from stenciling and graffiti art, to more detailed academic brushwork. The artist is also known for incorporating found objects and ‘street junk’ into his work.
In 2008 the artist was a finalist in the Sovereign Art Prize. He has had solo shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and shown in numerous group shows in both Australia and Thailand. Puangthong studied traditional Thai art for eight years at Nakkhon Si Tammarat Academy of Arts and Chang Mai University, where he was mentored by renowned Thai artist, Montien Boonma. Since moving to Australia he has completed a Masters in visual arts at the Victorian College of the Arts and a diploma in visual arts at the Australian Academy of Design.
