With History in Blue, I aim to conceptually construct my own “blue period,” reflecting on both my direct experience of immigration and its history. This artwork combines historical media art techniques of blue (blue and white porcelain, blue cyanotypes) and their contexts to explore the history of immigration through three interconnected projects that consider real and imagined landscapes. The three artworks of History in Blue are 1) Sunny Garden in Blue: Stories from the Caribbean to Brooklyn, 2) Returning Dialogue: Fragments of Blue and White Porcelain, and 3) Crossing the Border: Beneath the Blue Sky.
Bundith Phunsombatlert is an artist exploring media archaeology. Through various forms of media, his artworks examine how new media technology can connect to past forms of media and their contexts, and subtly imbue everyday experiences with new layers of meaning. His work offers a unique definition of “new” media art, defined not only by the use of technology. For him, “new” media can reveal a fresh new meaning of something old, and be defined by the ways in which each individual connects with their personal background and cultural identity, allowing them to reinvent traditional interpretations of history.
Phunsombatlert has been exhibited both nationally and internationally for over twenty years. Selected exhibitions include at the International Studio and Curatorial Program, NY; Wave Hill, NY; Osage Gallery, Hong Kong; International Print Center New York; Smack Mellon, NY; Delaware Art Museum; Cuchifritos Gallery, NY; Flushing Meadows Corona Park/Queens Museum; NYC DOT’s Urban Art Program; Socrates Sculpture Park, NY; Changwon Asian Art Festival, South Korea; Location One, NY; The Auckland Triennial, New Zealand; The Guangzhou Triennial, China; The National Gallery, Thailand; The Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Australia; and The International Biennial of Graphic Art, Slovenia.
He has been awarded grants and residencies from the Puffin Foundation West, Brooklyn Arts Fund, Center for Book Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Harpo Foundation, Eyebeam, MacDowell Colony, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Skowhegan, Hong Kong International Artists Workshop, Location One, Asian Cultural Council, Second Prize UNESCO Digital Arts Award at the 12th International Symposium on Electronic Arts (ISEA2004), and Grand Prize of the Contemporary Art Exhibition in Thailand. His projects have been reviewed in Art in Print’s Prix de Print, Public Art Review, Wall Street Journal, Artnet News, Hyperallergic, Art Asiapacific, and Asian Art News.
Phunsombatlert received an MFA in Digital+Media from Rhode Island School of Design, USA; and a BFA/MFA in Printmaking from Silpakorn University, Thailand. He lives and works in New York and Bangkok.
