Since the Thai are not principle oriented, and with the high value for personal relationships, they also appear not to be strictly law-oriented. In practice, principles and laws are ever-adjustable to fit persons and situations. In other words, laws are rules laid out in papers; but what is wrong or right depends not on the rules, but instead on who the person is or whom the person knows. A prominent Thai businessman ironically described this phenomenon in a seminar:
We Thai are not a society of law; we are a society of relationship…. It is not what a person has done that’s wrong; it’s who he is…. If he is your cousin, or your friend, then what he has done is not wrong. But if another person does the same thing, and it’s somebody you don’t like, then what he has done is wrong…
Source: S. KOMIN, Psychology of the Thai People: Values and Behavioral Patterns. Bangkok, Research Center, National Institute of Development Administration.
Ian Burn began investigating the act of looking in the mid 1960s. In this work, text across a standard framed mirror quotes from the 18th-century Scottish philosopher David Hume. The original quote continues, ‘if we consider these objects in themselves, and never look beyond the ideas which we form of them’.
The viewer is asked to consider this specific work of art without considering his or her accumulated knowledge and assumptions about either ‘mirrors’ or ‘works of art’ (or the person ‘in’ the mirror). The impossibility of isolating any one thing from all others is emphasised in this conceptual artwork by our reflection in the mirror and that of the space in which it hangs and other art nearby.
Ian Burn Two glass/Mirror piece 1968 mirror, glass, wood 93.7 × 63.2 cm National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
“Anyhow, the older I get, the less impressed I become with originality. These days, I’m far more moved by authenticity. Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me.”
FYI: I love sharing my favorite artists not just for inspiration but also to educate about their creative processes and thoughts. It’s fascinating to see how some artists still believe that only realism qualifies as fine art, overlooking other forms. I wonder what kind of art history they’re being taught in their school.
“Anyhow, the older I get, the less impressed I become with originality. These days, I’m far more moved by authenticity. Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me.” — Elizabeth Gilbert
“I have found that in accepting and immersing myself in subject matter I paint with more intensity and that the ‘hows’ of painting are more inevitably determined by the ‘whats’.” — David Park
David Park (1911-1960) Two People in White 1957 oil on canvas 24 x 32 in. Price realised USD 378,000
