For over a decade Be Takerng Pattanopas has been defining and redefining 'temples' of his own with combinations of three major elements: space, light and the presence or absence of the human body. His sculptures, installations and drawings are typically balanced on a hocus-pocus tightrope as they seduce the visual perceptions of the audience and engage them with seductive spatial experiences. But with everything in its right place, audiences become aware that what he has done is simply invite them to contemplate their own bodies and, ultimately, their own impermanence.

From 06 November til 15 December 2009

Permanent Flux showcases Pattanopas’s recent sculptures with a selection of pieces that, over decade ago, began his explorations of the use of illusive space as a means of representing the human body. Beginning with delicately-lit concave reliefs of the body, the artist has most recently begun to work with ambiguous renderings of viscera.

The trajectory of Pattanopas’s oeuvre suggests a concern with generating a sense of the human body in flux; a concern that links with Buddhist notions of impermanence while acting directly on the viewers senses.

Pattanopas’s sculptures are labour-intensive in their detailing of exterior and interior views of the human body. He works with disparate materials and intricate structures to create illusions of bodily spaces and depth.

Furthermore, Pattanopas’s largest sculpture to date, Porta-atroP I, treads a particularly provocative line between beauty and ugliness in terms of a seductive yet disturbing imaging of seemingly infinite corporeal passages that bespeak the human body as subject to endless change.

Be Takerng Pattanopas is a Thai-born artist and academic and currently an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Architecture of Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. He exhibits and publishes internationally and his recent exhibitions have been reviewed in Flash Art and Frieze.com.