Pinaree Sanpitak

NORFOLK, Va. – (October 2012) – The Chrysler Museum of Art presents a solo exhibition by Thai artist Pinaree Sanpitak, marking the first time her celebrated interactive installation Temporary Insanity has been shown in the United States. The exhibition opens on October 13 and admission is free.

A field of red, orange, and yellow silk-covered forms transforms the Museum’s Bernini Gallery into a meditative space. Each pillowy form rocks to its own rhythm and shakes to the sound of footsteps. For Sanpitak, there’s meaning beyond the movement. The soft forms suggest Buddhist stupas as well as bodily shapes, and their gentle swaying and excited shaking mimic universal human emotions.

“This exhibition invites viewers to lose themselves within an interactive environment that is at once dynamic and contemplative,” said Amy Brandt, Ph.D., the Chrysler’s McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. “Sanpitak’s unique vision connects the individual with the collective, the spiritual with a sense of community and the world around us.”

Sanpitak is one of the most important contemporary artists from Southeast Asia. Her work addresses the concepts Buddhism, spirituality, and womanhood through a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, photography, public art, and glass. Since the late 1980s, she has explored notions of femininity using symbols that evoke the female body. Temporary Insanity marks Sanpitak’s first interactive, immersive environment, a shift recently seen in her work Anything Can Break at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. After the exhibition completes its run at the Chrysler, it will be on view at AMOA-Arthouse, Austin, Texas.

Sanpitak will be at the Chrysler from October 8–14 to install the exhibition. During this week, the Museum has planned several opportunities to introduce the public to the artist and her interactive work.