IB VISUAL ARTS 2025

KRIS

Curatorial Rationale

My exhibition explores the concept of true beauty. As an art student, the idea of beauty is highly relevant to the process of art creation therefore, it is a theme that I wanted to dive deeper into. I explored the meaning of beauty using sources ‘What is art’ by Leo Tolstoy, ‘Concerning the spiritual in art’ by Wassily Kandinsky and other philosophies. I was mainly inspired by the Buddhist philosophy of beauty through impermanence and imperfection. The idea that meanings create beauty make sense to me as a definition of true beauty. A flower isn’t beautiful because it always blooms, it is beautiful because it grows, blooms and dies. Through my exhibition, I tried to communicate this idea of impermanence and imperfection as the meaning of true beauty.

Apart from my conceptual approach to Eastern philosophy of true beauty, I was also largely inspired by traditional art, especially of those from East and Southeast Asia. The idea that human wisdom lasts past fleeting humans’ lives, aligns with my idea of true beauty as form of impermanence. Furthermore, I am drawn to conventional styles of art such as classical art, especially traditional Thai and Eastern art-styles. As a result, I took inspiration from many artists from those times, such as Caravaggio, Katsushika Hokusai and many unnamed artisans that produced traditional works. Ultimately, the art styles matched up with the concept, my personal interests and cultural background.

The centre work of my exhibition is a graphite watercolour painting which directly links to the concept of impermanence and imperfection. The Buddhas’ hands are in decayed form, symbolising the impermanent and imperfect nature of everything. The golden lotus symbolises the permanence of beauty through impermanence. Lotus in Eastern and Southeastern Asia is an important symbol for purity and enlightenment, it also has great significance to Buddhism as many anecdotes surround this flower. Adjacent to this work are the guardians, Sadayu (left) and Naga (right). In most Thai temples, the doors to the main chapel are decorated with heavenly creatures who stand guarding the main Buddha inside from dark thoughts and evil spirits. I took this idea and integrated it into my exhibition presentation.

Below this main work is an oil painting of a serpent slithering through a pool of flowers. The style of this work is distinct to the rest as I want to explore the concept using varied mediums and styles. The idea of this painting is that all lives are on the journey toward enlightenment, most of the time without realisation. This struggle creates a meaningful story which in turns produce beauty. The serpent symbolises the duality of humans’ imperfection. In many cultures, a serpent represents evil and morality, life and death. Therefore, the serpent is my interpretation of the humans’ journey through imperfection. The flower pool represents the imperceivable beauty of this journey toward enlightenment.

The figures in both paintings (The Avalokiteshvara and Ramakien characters) represent the purity of humans’ souls. The smoke coming from the figures symbolises the imperfect human journey. Within this chaos, one can find the beauty in the struggle, linking back to the theme of true beauty within the imperfect.

Another oil painting in this exhibition is a still life of a skull, books and a candle. This is my interpretation of Western art style. Concept-wise, it speaks of the beauty of impermanence. The extinguished candle flame and the skull symbolise the physical beauty that is found beyond life.  While the books symbolise the collective wisdom gained after the end of a human’s life.

The afterlife is continued in my work of the scroll of the ghostly parade. The work depicts a parade of ghostly beings. The afterlife might look like this, where souls become something free of form and imperfect. I was inspired by the Hyakki Yagyo (百鬼夜行) "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons", Japanese mythical parade of supernatural beings.

Masks in many cultures are made for religious aspects. They often replicate the likeness of godly beings while also incorporating traditional craftmanship. Eventually over time, these masks, made by natural materials deteriorate. However, the holiness and meaning attached to these masks retain their meaning and significance or in some cases, are intensified by it, signifying the impermanence of beauty.

Each work in my exhibition reflects this concept while also working together to form a coherent connection visually and conceptually. While beauty is often subjective, through my exhibition I communicate ideas that beauty is derived from meaning given to ideas beyond our understanding such as impermanence and imperfection and is therefore true.