Booth 44
Nova is pleased to present a solo presentation of works by Tada Hengsapkul at Liste Art Fair 2023. Melodically eruptive, this body of work exemplifies Hengsapkul’s distinct multimedia approach, combining en plein air and pyrotechnic methods to convey ecological, political, and emotional release.
Hengsapkul’s In Between series unfolds across the booth, creating cacophonies of texture and form. A sense of propulsive musicality defines the works, some impelled by diagonal bursts of smoke bomb ignition, others punctuated by gunpowder and firework accents. The pieces appear near synesthetic, as if one can hear their vibrance and velocity. Hengsapkul first devised of the smoke bomb as an artistic medium after witnessing its deployment in youth protests, emblemizing the explosive as a token of civil disobedience. Using art as a form of nonviolent action, his practice forms an act of alliance, quietly countering institutional retaliation. Surpassing the confines of paper with dynamism and force, the works deftly mediate the moving and the momentary, also nodding to Hengsapkul’s training in photography.
Despite their energetic vitality, each piece is a product of patient meditation. Working in outdoor spaces, Hengsapkul has established a unique aerodynamic process of controlled improvisation. Through extensive experimentation, he has deftly distilled a set of environmental and temporal variables, harnessing the fleeting nature of the elements. Fusing the seditious smoke bomb with the gentle caresses of wind, Hengsapkul’s works embody pure movement, transferring the weightless and formless powers of wind onto paper. The intertwining mediums arrive onto the page as figurative epiphanies, holding messages that are ephemeral yet vivacious.
Moving beyond the aesthetics of weather, Hengsapkul ideates the wind as an analogy for speech, imagining the ripples of discourse and rebellion against censorship. His interest in the expressive and circulatory is exemplified by the central piece, Topography, where his signature smoke bomb technique is dispersed across a panoramic grid of paper coins. Made to react to wind, the work flickers in constant movement, shifting its surface each time it is viewed. The resulting experience holds the intimate intensity of a whisper, enabling the possibility of unassuming transformation. Hengsapkul diffuses dissonance through abstraction, capturing invisible and continuous flux in quiet calls to change.