Deformation And Metaphor

As one of the representatives of young Thai artists,Chusak Srikwan(1983-)has a variety of artistic expressions and a wide range of themes.His persistence and innovation in traditional art are also unique in the field of contemporary shadow art in Southeast Asia.His works hide the deep admonishment in the delicate form,which has unique aesthetic interest both in form and connotation.This paper uses the analysis method of iconology to interpret chusak’s art works from the form and connotation.By comparing chusak’s shadow puppet works with the traditional shadow puppet modeling features,it is found that his works retain a large number of Thai traditional patterns,which reflect human nature,modern society and daily life.In addition to inheriting the traditional creation,chusak also integrated modern and foreign cultural elements into the shadow play modeling.This kind of cubism and collage like expression makes his works full of fantasy space and the strange picture of the fusion of East and West.The artist aims to arouse people’s attention to the preservation of regional culture and the "alienation" of modern social culture.On the theme of creation,due to the influence of Buddhist thought,chusak’s shadow puppet works contain the interpretation and reconstruction of traditional Thai folk myths and proverbs,and also imply the admonition of Buddhist thought.In his works,the artist focuses on the "greed,anger and infatuation" in human nature,and interprets it from four angles: War,material society,reincarnation and ego,so as to warn the world.The process of chusak’s artistic creation is considered to have the characteristics of "post tradition" in sociology.Southeast Asian shadow puppet artists with similar creative experience also generally expect to integrate traditional art forms into the new artistic atmosphere.Compared with simple misappropriation,chusak hopes that his works have a distinct spiritual core of traditional shadow play.In his view,innovation is a necessity,and regression is a choice.