“It all begun from my last breakup,” Tul Waitoonkiat, musician and vocalist of the Thai famous band Apartment Khun Pa told us in his first sentence. But as an artist, instead of lamenting, he chose to tease about his ended love through arts and poems.
When we saw the exhibition ‘X’ the Xhibition, which he collaborated with Toh Slowmotion (Nut Nimsomboon), a friend and a designer who has been involved in Tul’s creative works for a long time. ‘X’ is an exhibition consisting of lyrics from Tul’s pen, combined with mix-media visuals dedicated to farewell.
“Last year Toh and I talked about wanting to have an exhibition together but we didn’t know yet what it should be about. A few months later, there was an incident in my love life which I call “love sucks”, so I told Toh that we finally had the content for the exhibition,” said the artist with a cheerful smile.
“Love challenge gives me a lot of materials. You know that I always write poems during the time of grief. And I don’t want to linger long on the pain. I think poetry is something of a therapy for me.”
– Tul Waitoonkiat –
The 27 poems exploded in a mere two weeks after the farewell. These are both a remedy and an explanation of his fractured relationship’s underlying causes. “The problem is with me. That’s why I have repeatedly encountered this thing in the relationship. I am not a womanizer. But I go out every night,” explained Tul.
While Toh, who interpreted his friend’s poems into several forms of art shared with us that “at first I thought it would be rock and roll. But after actually listening to the story…umm, it’s clearly not.”
In fact, Tul’s self-analysis is not just a snapshot of his own love life, it goes far to reflect on the concept of perfect love and to challenge it, as evident in the poem ‘Sleeping Beauty’ that tells the ugliness of real-life opposite to fairy tales. And Toh interprets that into a gloomy heartbreaking cartoon movie.
“His poems are full of colors tucked between the lines. Whether it’s sweet, lonely, sad, sarcastic, or metaphorical love for politics.”
– Toh Slowmotion –
No wonder someone visiting the exhibition will claim they have a fair share of this lost-love feeling. But even in sorrow and farewell, it’s also full of humor and lighthearted gestures that wouldn’t be possible without the artist’s positive spirits.
“Heartbreak is like a shared experience that everybody has. We’ve all been through some bad times from our own expectation, lover’s expectation, or the expectation we foolishly created from childhood fairytale”
Slowmotion incorporated Tul’s verses into different forms of artwork using brilliant techniques such as canvas embroidery, ceramics, music, and video editing.
‘X’ the Xhibition is part of the Bangkok Design Week 2020, on display at the WOOF PACK BANGKOK gallery from February 1-16. With special Valentine Concert & Party by Tul Waitoonkiat x Zweed n’ Roll on the night of 14th February from 9 PM to midnight.
Location: Woof Pack building, Soi Sala Daeng 1
BTS Sala Daeng / MRT Lumpini
Photos: Awika Buawattana, Slowmotion
