Fridae

Breaking the tradition of exhibiting female nudes which many Thai artists add to their portfolios for the sake of creating their own sensual image of their ideal woman, Chinese American artist Li Ming Shun is tackling the male figure titled, Thailand 2002 at three different locations this month in Thailand; at Dick's Cafe in Bangkok, the Panorama Pub in Pattaya, and the Hag/Phuket Restaurant, Patong Beach, Phuket.

Thailand 2002 is a serious attempt at capturing the masculinity of the Oriental man. Done with different mediums, the artist says he prefers to work with pencil, watercolour and charcoal: "It's powerful and allows more flow and freedom in my drawing, says Li who was educated at the prestigious PLA Art Academy of China in Beijing.

After his formal education, which instilled in him discipline and appreciation of oriental art, he was invited as an art Lecturer at the University of Georgia, Athens Art Research Center and CIMA Contemporary Museum of Art. Inc for Art in 1989.

Going under the moniker Calvin, Li lives and works in New York's So-Ho art district. He calls it a vibrant caldron of multicultural diversity. "The big Apple vibrates with culture and, moreover, it's a multi-racial, multi-ethnic society that gives such a wonderful ambiance for an artist. Its inspiration is intoxicating.

"You could say I have the best of both worlds," says the artist who exhibited Quest from East to West at the Westminster Art Gallery at Bloomfield College in the UK last year. The exhibition, which featured rural images of his homeland, was well received by the heterosexual press.

Li's works are like a fusion dish, with strong expressionistic colours, and soft calligraphic strokes executed with fine lines of pencil and charcoal and soft water colours. He says his portraiture isn't about copying a figure, "but rather bringing it to life and employing all my feeling to the depths of my soul." So don't expect to see any buffed up boys in prima dona positions at this show.

Li who attempts to expose the sensitive side of the Asian male has worked very closely with his models over the last two years travelling around Thailand and China searching for the right models.

Proud to point out his origins; the37-year-old artist who was born in Huangshi, China feels that as an Asian, he "catch[es] the Asian feeling much faster than non-Asians." He says Western artists have a tendency of "orientalizin" the East. "Just look at the works of Gauguin," he points out. "He painted with the excitement of a man who has just discovered Shangri-La."

Like the Greeks and Renaissance masters, he has paid attention to the human form, and presented them as living entities, teeming with life and taunt muscles.

"I've always enjoyed Greek art, "he says. "And as you know Greek sculpture was fraught with male nudes."

---

"The Christian influence made a taboo of it, [but] male nudes in Michelangelo's paintings were acceptable because the theme is religious."

What separates Li from his contemporaries, Tan Siew Hian, Pan Shou, Chen Wen His and Chua Ek Kay, all represented by Soonin Art Gallery in Singapore, is that he doesn't use controversy to sell his art. He says, for example, of Liu Xiaodong's Trans-sexual (Oil on canvas) strikes the viewer with a realistic rendered of transsexuals, including their genitals.

"I'm not into explicit art, he said.

"There won't be any heads turning at this show. If you are lucky you might see a silhouette of a penis, but that's about all." But left to the imagination, the saliva factor should be higher, and I'm talking about from the menus of the cafe/galleries where he'll be exhibiting.

Mainstream art goers might be put off by the homo-erotic content, but when looking at Li's work strictly from the point of art, they might come out feeling less biased about gay art. He has done portraits of females too, and they were done with the same attention to detail as the works on display at Thailand 2002. They were done as if they were the opposites of this show and are on show at his website.

For those who are into Asian goddesses, Li's background is in landscape and portraits and they adorn the walls of major corporations, including Occidental Petroleum Corporation, IBM, Chinese Arts Academy, and Contemporary International Museum of Art. Though he may be commercial, this show's that Li can excel in non-commercial art too.

Adaptable at many styles, and flexible in his subject matter, he said that for Thailand 2002 he wanted to capture "the elegance of the male form" adding that his work "should appeal to those who appreciate the unique beauty of the Asian male nude," and from the sleazy go-go boy bars.

There's restraint in some of his nudes, while in others, Li has verged on being lurid - a man's penis is lying limp in one rendering. But having lived under a government, which bans artists for anything that rocks the status quo, he says Thailand is great in this respect. "You can exhibit whatever you like so long as you don't encroach upon touchy subjects such as religion or the monarchy."

Who knows, The King's court might be knocking on his door for a commissioned portraiture, since this is the base that Li has built his art foundation on.

Li Ming Shun is offering 20% discount on his prints available at each venue and the proceeds from any sales of prints or originals will be donated to local organisations as follows:
Bangkok Pride Coalition (www.bangkokpride.org)
Pattaya Gay Festival (www.pattayagayfestival.com)

See Li Ming Shun's art at:
Dick's Caf� - Soi Duangthawee Plaza, Bangkok, from Jan 10-Feb 13, 2002
Panarama Pub - Pattayaland Soi 3, Pattaya, on Jan 12-Feb 13
Sea Hag/Phuket Restaurant - Patong Beach, Phuket, on Jan 18-end Feb