James Prapaithong

James Prapaithong explores memory, isolation and longing through his filmic paintings which deliberately use the aspect ratio of the screen and are devoid of people. Resembling enlarged photographs of familiar yet distant places and using high colour saturation with a particular attention to light, Prapaithong’s hazy, dream-like landscapes become vehicles to communicate the uncertainty of recall, the construction of memory and the space between connection and estrangement. Prapaithong states: “My paintings are reminiscent of places that exist in each and every one of our memories and the lingering sentiment that lies within. They are intended to create flashbacks and remind us of precious moments in our lives that we may have forgotten once we have moved on.” Commonly romanticised elements of the natural world such as water, the moon and the stars, become an essential part of Prapaithong’s oeuvre, used as both aesthetic devices to explore light within the picture, and as visual metaphors for nostalgia, yearning and a need for shared experience.