Channatip Chanvipava: The Sound of Many Waters curated by Marisa Bellani
17 April -27 May 2024
Dimora Ai Santi, Calle Larga Giacinto Gallina
Canneregio 6381
30121, Venezia
To coincide with the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale, Roman Road is pleased to present ‘The Sound of Many Waters’, a solo exhibition curated by Marisa Bellani dedicated to the young Thai painter Channatip Chanvipava. Staged in the intimate setting of a 17th-century Venetian ‘dimora’, opened to the public for the first time, the exhibition unveils eight new works that poignantly explore the notions of fixed identities, belonging and subjective memory.
Photo credit Deniz Guzel (2024). Courtesy of Roman Road
Aligning with this year’s Biennale theme ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, Bellani turns to water as a powerful reference to address the concepts of queer identity and connection in a divided world. These are vibrantly expressed in Chanvipava’s work which navigates queer sensibilities with immense power and emotion. Water, in this instance, becomes a symbol of both connection and division, resonating with the complexities of queer identity.
Based in London, Channatip Chanvipava is a self-taught painter who embarked on his artistic journey after a degree in Economics, driven by an enduring passion for art cultivated since a young age. His unique style, marked by distinctive and bold brushstrokes inspired by the impressionists, seamlessly oscillates between abstraction and figuration.
Photo credit Deniz Guzel (2024). Courtesy of Roman Road
Notably, Chanvipava’s compositions are characterized by layered, thick, and vibrant paint textures distinguished by vertical lines outlining forms. His organic and meditative artistic process relies on intuition and fragments of memory, pieced together to create a ‘tapestry’ of recollections. He navigates through colour as a vehicle to express form, bringing to light moments of reflection, contemplation and liberation. Without employing preliminary sketches or physical references, he paints directly on canvas and relies solely on memory and his acute understanding of space and depth.
Courtesy of Roman Road
The exhibition display, set in a private historical home, heightens the intimacy of the paintings’ subjects. The works are exhibited on large stainless-steel panels that shine and reflect like water – a visual nod to the exhibition’s title. Viewers are invited to navigate through these contemporary structures, prompting an immersive connection with the art and the surrounding space, an environment where past and present meet and collide.
Channatip Chanvipava: The Sound of Many Waters opens on the 17th of April until the 27th of May 2024 at Dimora Ai Santi, Calle Larga Giacinto Gallina
©2024 CHANNATIP CHANVIPAVA
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