Lot 27: SUCHAO SISGANES (Thailand 1926-1986)

Street scene
signed in Thai (lower left)
oil on board
18 x 20 in. (46 x 51 cm.)

Suchao Sisganes's works are often imbued with strong emotions. Creating very simple compositions, the artist painted like a novelist-protagonist telling a story and very often he created sets of characters amongst whom he hid himself. For instance with a work painted in 1971, A stranger in the city, the pig-tailed man represents Suchao the artist and the protagonist. The character is depicted sad and lonely in a big city, with a house in the background, either a place where he is coming or to where he is heading. It could be the house that Suchao dreamed of owning, or purely symbolic of an endeavour in his inner self.

With the series of works depicting the farm and farmers as exemplified by the illustrated Hay stacks, the artist is visibly in a better mood. The series of works have been likened to actors in a provincial theatre, which Suchao created to illustrate the brighter side of life. In this instance, the actors (the farmers) have lively, happy faces and the colours of the works are luminious and vivacious - an expression of the mood of the work. The mood is one of contentment and abundance.

With Human forms, the artist is preoccupied with the inter-play of shapes and forms. Rendered in his characteristic style of textured impasto, the forms are precariously contained in the intended outlining of the artist.

With the present work Street Scene, Suchao has intended the mood to be melancholy. The simplistic and unadorned composition fuses a sense of sadness and loneliness, which are familiar sentiments to a sensitive artist who is in constant poverty. Always wanting a house for himself, this rendition illustrates the outstanding feature of Suchao's works which are the creative symbolism and the multi-layered meanings underlying them. Despite of the overwhelming sense of sadness, Street scene also expresses a curious sense of tranquility, hence sad as it is; the scene is also alluring. As such, the onlooker is unconsciously drawn into Suchao's inner world.