• Pinaree Sanpitak, Balancing Act 18, 2024, mulberry paper, needle, metal, motor, sculptures: H12 x 8.5 x 8.5 cm; H 8.5 x 8 x 8 cm; H10 x 8 x 8 cm; H10.5 x 11 x 11 cm; H12.5 x 13.5 x 13.5 cm; H13 x 13.5 x 13.5 cm; H15.5 x 13.5 x 13.5 cm; H 23.5 x 21 x 21 cm, base: H58.3 x 50 x 50 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Balancing Act 22, 2024, mulberry paper, needle, terracotta, metal, motor, sculpture: H29.5 x 27.5 x 27.5 cm, base: H33 x 30 x 30 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Balancing Act 14, 2023, mulberry paper, needle, bamboo basket, metal, motor, sculptures: H23.5 x 24 x 28 cm; H18 x 18.5 x 25.5 cm, bases: H98.5 x 30 x 30 cm; H83.3 x 32 x 28 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, the body as a vessel for memory and a site for ceremony, 2024, acrylic, pencil, feathers on canvas, 250 x 250 x 4.5 cm
  • Installation views of ‘Holding Ceremony’, 2024, Frieze No.9 Cork Street, London, UK; photos by JUDDartINDEX.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Balancing Lady, 2024, paper, needle, metal, Sculpture: 26.5 x 12 x 9.5 cm; Shelf: 30 x 30 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, A Mix Family, 2021-2023, paper, needle, metal, Sculptures: 27 x 19 x 13.5 cm; 10 x 12 x 8 cm; 7.5 x 12 x 8 cm; 9 x 12 x 8 cm; 8.5 x 12 x 8 cm; Shelf: 60 x 30 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Vessel, 2024, stainless steel, 78.5 x 200.8 x 91.5 cm, edition of 5 + 1 AP
  • Installation view of Pinaree Sanpitak for 'Kabinett' at Art Basel Hong Kong, 2024, Ames Yavuz.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Balancing Act 1, 2023, mulberry paper, needle, metal, motor, sculpture: 37.5 x D 34.5 cm, base: H32.5 x D40 x 8 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Balancing Act 10, 2023, mulberry paper, needle, metal, gold leaf, motor, sculptures: H29 x 17.5 x 19.5 cm; H35 x 18 x 23 cm, base: H57.5 x 50 x 50 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Balancing Act 12, 2023, mulberry paper, needle, metal, motor, sculptures: H15.5 x D16 cm; H15.5 x D16 cm; H14 x D13.5 cm; H14 x D13 cm; H11.5 x D11.5 cm; H11 x D12 cm; H17.3 x D11cm; H14 x D11 cm; H10 x D8.5 cm; H12.5 x D8.5 cm; H10 x D8.3 cm; H14.5 x D11 cm; H14.5 x D11 cm; H10.5 x D8 cm; H8.5 x D8.5 cm, base: H32.5 x 140 x 36 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Body and The Vessel, 2022, Yavuz Gallery, Sydney, Australia
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Body and The Vessel, 2022, Yavuz Gallery, Sydney, Australia
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Body and The Vessel, 2022, Yavuz Gallery, Sydney, Australia
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Body and The Vessel, 2022, Yavuz Gallery, Sydney, Australia
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Peacock and The Two Pheasants , 2023, Murakami Kibori Tsuishu red lacquered vases, mulberry paper, needle, 46 x 30 x 14.5 cm, 790 g (left); 46 x 30 x 14 cm, 905 g (right)
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Gold Pot and The Shell, 2023, Terracotta pot, gold leaves, mulberry paper, needle, shell, 19 x 21 x 20 cm, 1.1 kg (assembled)
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Body and The Hole, 2023, Metal vase, mulberry paper, needle, 41 x 17.5 x 4.5 cm, 1.15 kg
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Flow, 2023, Paper, acrylic, pencil, colored pencil, feathers on canvas, 160 x 145 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Black Mist, 2023, Acrylic, pencil, feathers on canvas, 160 x 145 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Affairs of Breast Stupas (Detail), 2021-22, 119 sculptures made of mulberry paper and needle, Dimensions variable
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Offering Vessel IV, 2022, paper, pastel, acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200 x 5 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, two hanging breast notes, 2022, acrylic, pastel, pencil, coloured pencil on canvas, 150 x 130 x 6.5 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, womanly body notes, 2022, acrylic, pencil on canvas, 150 x 130 x 6.5 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, breast vessel notes, 2022, acrylic, feathers on canvas, 150 x 130 x 6.5 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, breast cloud notes, 2022, acrylic, pencil on canvas, 150 x 130 x 6.5 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Affairs of Serving III, 2022, acrylic, pencil, oil paste, feathers, fabric, threads on canvas, 160 x 145 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Affairs of Breast Stupas (Detail), 2021-22, 119 sculptures made of mulberry paper and needle, Dimensions variable
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Affairs of Serving II, 2022, acrylic, ink, pencil, fabric, paper on canvas, 130 x 130 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Breast Vessel in the Reds, 2021, acrylic, pencil and feathers on canvas, 250 x 250 cm. Photo: Aroon Permpoonsopol
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Offering Vessel, 2021, acrylic and pencil on canvas, 250 x 250 cm. Photo: Aroon Permpoonsopol
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Offering Vessel II, 2021, acrylic and paper on canvas, 250 x 250 cm. Photo: Aroon Permpoonsopol
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Body and The Gold Breast, 2021, acrylic, gold leaves on canvas, 250 x 220 cm. Photo: Aroon Permpoonsopol
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Body Lyrics III, 2020, acrylic on canvas 250 x 150 cm. Photo: Aroon Permpoonsopol
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Bodily Space II, 2018-2019, acrylic, textile, paper on canvas, 130 x 260 cm (diptych). Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Body of Fragmented Memories I, 2019, textile, paper, modelling paste, acrylic, ink on canvas, 180 x 130 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Body of Fragmented Memories II, 2019, textile, paper, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 130 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Body of Fragmented Memories III, 2019, paper, acrylic, charcoal, pastel on canvas, 180 x 130 cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Body of Fragmented Memories IV, 2019, paper, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 130 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Body of Fragmented Memories V, 2019, textile, paper, acrylic on canvas, 180 x 130 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Body Lyrics, 2017-2018, acrylic, pencil, textile on canvas, 250 x 250 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Red Alert! My Body My Space I, 2018-2019, acrylic, pencil, textile, paper on canvas, 250 x 250 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Red Alert! My Body My Space II, 2018-2019, acrylic, colour pencil, textile, paper on canvas, 250 x 250 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Black Dreams I, 2019, paper, textile, jute, acrylic, ink on canvas, 200 x 200 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Black Dreams II, 2019, paper, charcoal, pastel on canvas, 200 x 200 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Black Dreams III, 2019, paper, wood, canvas, charcoal, acrylic, ink on canvas, 200 x 200 cm. Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Bodily Space I, 2017-2019, textile, paper, acrylic on canvas, 260 x 150 cm (diptych). Photo by Aroon Permpoonsopol.
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Red Breast Vessel, 2018, 250 x 250 cm, acrylic and pencil on canvas
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Body Moves, 2016-2017, toile, dimensions variable
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Breast Vessel, 2015, pencil, paper and acrylic on canvas, 200 x 200cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Breast Vessel, 2015, acrylic and pencil on canvas, 200 x 200cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, The Hammock, 2014/15, edition 3 of 3, blown glass and steel, hanging position approximately 190 x 410 x 120cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Quietly Solid - Blue 1, 2008-10, blown Murano glass by Master Silvano Signoretto, 31.5 x 16.5 x 21.5com / 15kg
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Quietly Solid - Blue 2, 2008-10, blown Murano glass by Master Silvano Signoretto, 31 x 19.5 x 20cm / 14kg
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Breast Stupa Topiary, 2013, edition 2 of 3 + 1 AP, stainless steel (Grade 304), dimensions variable
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, seeds I, 2013, acrylic, pencil and dried flowers on canvas, 200 x 200cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, seeds II, 2013, acrylic, pencil and dried flowers on canvas, 200 x 200cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, seeds III, 2013, acrylic, pencil and dried flowers on canvas, 200 x 200cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, seeds IV, 2013, acrylic, pencil and dried flowers on canvas, 200 x 200cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, seeds V, 2013, acrylic, pencil and dried flowers on canvas, 200 x 200cm
  • Pinaree Sanpitak, Breast Vessel, 2014-15, collage on canvas, 185 x 185cm
ARTIST

Pinaree Sanpitak

Pinaree Sanpitak (b. 1961, Thailand) is one of Asia’s most important contemporary artists. In the 1990s, her ground-breaking exhibition Breast Works marked the start of the artist’s reference to an emergent and defining iconography: the women’s breast, which Sanpitak has become renowned for. 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 offering 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 womanhood.

Her sensorial inquiries also reveal a keen sensitivity towards a range of materials, and she has produced an expansive and compelling body of work across diverse media and techniques including painting, collage, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, installation and performance. Underpinning Sanpitak’s practice is an abiding fascination with the potentiality of the body, her own body as sensate space, her lived experience of the bodily as a woman and, more recently, the charged and often convivial space between and among bodies that her participatory works create.

Sanpitak’s works have been shown in numerous museum and biennales. Her recent exhibitions include: Bangkok Art Biennale (2023); The Milk of Dreams, curated by Cecilia Alemani, 59th Venice Biennale (2022); A Spirit of Gift, A Place of Sharing, Hancock Shaker Village Museum (2022); The Black and The Red House, Setouchi Triennale, Japan (2019); The Roof, commissioned by Arts Brookfield, Brookfield Place Winter Garden, New York, USA (2017); and Breast Stupa Topiary, Jim Thompson Farm, Thailand (2018).

An overview of her work from 1995-2013 was showcased in a solo exhibition, Collection +: Pinaree Sanpitak, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia (2014). The artist presented Hanging by a Thread at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2013), a solo exhibition featuring her large-scale installation of the same title, which was subsequently acquired by said institution. Another large-scale installation, Temporary Insanity, was exhibited at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, USA (2012) and subsequently at The Contemporary Austin in Austin, Texas, USA (2013). At the 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012) she showcased a large-scale installation, Anything Can Break, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.

She has also exhibited her works at Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem (The Netherlands), National Gallery Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, ILHAM Gallery (Malaysia), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (Australia), Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (Japan), MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum (Thailand) amongst many others. In 2007, she received the Silpathorn Award from the Thai Ministry of Culture, one of the top honours for artists in the country.

Sanpitak’s works are included in the collections of over 30 institutions, including: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA), The Phillips Collection (USA), Asian Art Museum San Francisco (USA), Chrysler Museum (USA), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (USA), Nasher Museum of Art (USA), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (Japan), 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Japan), Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (Australia), Art Gallery of South Australia, Arter–Vehbi Koç Foundation (Turkey), National Gallery Singapore, Museum MACAN (Indonesia) and M+ (Hong Kong).