Pinaree Sanpitak in conversation with Michelle Newton

Join the artist talk this Saturday with Pinaree Sanpitak and Michelle Newton at Yavuz Sydney. The talk is held in conjunction with Sanpitak's current solo exhibition, The Body and The Vessel, which coincides with her inclusion in The Milk of Dreams at the 59th Biennale de Venezia.

Sanpitak is one of Asia’s most important contemporary artists. Over the last four decades, she has developed an enigmatic inventory of symbols distilling women’s bodies to their most elemental parts, expressed variously through vessels, breasts, eggs, and subtly curved profiles. Conflated with imagery of the alms bowl or a Buddhist stupa (shrine), Sanpitak has created a complex lexicon that weaves seamlessly between the sacred and the profane. Characterised by tenderness and ethereality, Sanpitak’s works are tethered to a captivation with her own body and motherhood.

In The Body and The Vessel, Sanpitak debuts a new series of paintings, sculptures and installation that continue her sensitive treatment of the human body, lived experiences and perception. At the centre of the exhibition is a large-scale installation titled The Affairs of Serving, which comprises of numerous sculptures laid on top of various vessels, placed alongside utensils on mid-century serving trolleys. Drawing upon materials and items common to everyday life, The Affairs of Serving engages viewers through recognition and curiosity through its interplay of the familiar domestic with unusual forms.