Lenythegreat’s Weblog

1. Montien Boonma, Two Buffaloes

buffalo

 a) Explain in your own words, the meaning of ‘Installation Art’. 

‘Installation Art is the placement or setting of real objects to bring across an idea, be it cultural, social, political or any other beliefs. Objects can be arranged in a particular manner to depict a certain message, to create a specific atmosphere or ambience. ‘Installation Art’ is in a 3 dimensional form, and it can be seen, felt or at times interacted with by viewers. It is not always confined to a gallery; it can be site-specific in which they are designed to only exist in the space for which they were created..

b) Describe the subject matter by Montien Boonma, highlighting the significance of the materials used.

Montien Boonma’s ‘Two buffaloes’,  is a mixed media installation art done in 1988. It is made up of objects such as 2 large, rough bags of unhusked rice, straw, wooden stools and a horn.  These objects are arranged in such a way that they resemble two buffaloes.  It can be inferred that the coil-like structure emerging from the endings of the rice sack on the left of the installation is the tail of one of the buffaloes, with its behind facing the front while standing on its 4 legs as depicted by the legs of the chair. The other rice sack on the right of the installation, with a horn sticking out from the top, depicts the front of the second buffalo, which is probably heading or facing the right. The materials used are very ordinary, and can be found almost everywhere in Thailand, where the artist was born. The choice of the simplistic materials used by Boonma brings out the point that he was trying to make. He feels that these things are slowly being neglected and replaced by the nation’s fast-paced modernization.

c) With Reference to another work by the artists, explain why the subject matter appeals to you as an installation, as oppose to a painting.

Montien Boonma’s other work include ‘Lotus sound’, which is an installation art done in 1992, which is made up of many terracotta vessels shaped like bells and stacked together to form a circular wall with holes in it. Behind the wall of ceramic vessels, gilded terracotta leaves are attached to the walls, suggesting the falling leaves of a lotus flower.  The subject matter, which is the wall of bell-like structures, appeals more to me as an installation, rather than a painting as it involves more than 1 of our senses. For paintings, only 1 sense is involved (most of the time), which are our eyes for sight. As for installations, they can be interactive like Boonma’s, where viewers can hear sounds being resonated within the bells, and at the same time feeling the texture of the structure and admire the grandeur of his relatively large work. Relating back to Boonma’s ‘Two buffaloes’, the same advantages of installation art apply to this work as well. Viewers can feel the texture of the materials used, such as the rough rice sacks and the smooth horn.