Art & Culture

PAKPOOM SALIPHAN TALKS TO ROUGH.

03/07/13
Cuba Charles

 

Using vintage Pepsi, Fanta and Coco-Cola advertising signs as basis of his canvas, Pakpoom Saliphan, the Thai born and now living in London combines images of well known icon such as Marilyn Manroe, Andy Warhol, The Queen, John Lennon, etc to create authentic pop art work using collages and illustration. This he does by using the advertising signs as backdrop to his painting of portraits of these influential people both alive and dead.  It is worthy of knowing that, Pakpoom Saliphan art is highly sought after in the art world making it highly collectable as well. A proud owner of one of Pakpoom piece is fashion designer Paul Smith who happens to be a fan. His solo exhibition still showing at SCREAM  on Eastcastle Street runs till the 6th of April. Here is what Pakpoom Saliphan had to say when ROUGH caught up him... 

What has been your artistic  experience living in London after moving out Bangkok. Has it played much influence in your work?

 
I am interested in the dialogue between East and West and thisi s evident in my work, particularly with the advertising sign series where you have Western brands like Pepsi and Coca-Cola juxtaposed with Thai text.  As I've been living in London for over ten years I'm influenced by both cultures.
 
 What influenced you to become an artist?
 
I've always been interested in art but when I was at university in Bangkok I had a tutor there who really inspired me and I realised that I could perhaps be an artist as a profession.  I worked in advertising before though but finally decided to focus on making work so I moved to London and studied at Camberwell and Chelsea colleges of art.
 
Now can you tell the ROUGH readers a bit about your present solo exhibition at SCREAM gallery on Eastcastle Street, London?
 
This is an important show for me, as it is the third exhibition at Scream and I was keen to bring together different bodies of work.  I have been working on some new sculptures using vintage wooden crates and I'm showing The Everybody Series where I cut out images of pop stars, sports people, politicians, cartoons etc and organise them in a grid.  I've then taken the visual symbol, such as Mickey Mouse's ears, or the Batman mask, and added this to each figure.  I'm also showing new advertising sign works where I collage and paint artists such as Dali, Frida Khalo and Warhol over the sign to suggest the artist as a brand themselves.
 
 Would you say as an artist you have a signature that runs through your art work?
 
I don't know many people using old metal advertising signs as their canvas.
 
 What does the future hold in store for Pakpoom Silaphan?
 
Scream are planning some projects for me later in the year so watch this space!
 
All images courtesy Sream and David Schwendinger

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