Contemporary artist Nino Sarabutra loves ceramics and is inspired by the myriad qualities of the human being.
As an artist I have to believe in an idea before I start creating it. Most of the pieces I make are large installations, some very costly to build. And I am my own funder. The 125,000 skulls, for example, cost half a million baht just for the materials and firing. You shouldn’t consider becoming an artist unless you are willing to throw all your money and effort into an idea.
Nino Sarabutra in studio. Photograph by Chaiwat Kangsamrith.
Tell us a little about yourself. What brought you to the world of contemporary art?
I studied art but started working in advertising before I graduated, so I enjoyed the commercial world for nearly 20 years. The intention was there, to do art after advertising, not when I retired but while I was still fit and strong. I started to leave since 2002, but advertising was still very sexy then. It took me longer than I expected. I started full time art in 2008 and booked my first solo show in the beginning of 2009. Here I am on year 12 now.
Black Ripple Tableware. Ceramic. Photograph by Nino Sarabutra.
How do you describe yourself in the context of challenging people’s perspectives via your work and art?
I would like my art to provoke people into thinking. I want to stimulate self-reflection, so that the audience considers their position in life, how it feels to be human, what factors drive their emotions, and what motivates them.
People who visit my show should walk away with a question in their minds. Are you happy, and what will make you happier? What does what we are drinking say about us? What are you gifting, why and what are you expecting in return? Have you done your best? If today were your last, what will you leave behind? I also consider myself as a part of the audience and I want to ask these questions to myself.
A Buddhist monk walks on the installation: What will you leave behind. Contemporary artist Nino Sarabutra. Wat Prayoon. Bangkok Art Biennale 2018. Photograph by Nino Sarabutra.
How do you deal with the conceptual difficulty and uncertainty of creating new work?
There is difficulty and uncertainty in everything we do in life. That’s part of being human, so is art. All of us have to learn to live with it and make the most of it.
I think everyone should approach creation like a competitive sport. No matter how good you are at the sport, there times when we peak or do better. The process of self-discovery needed to create art is no different.
When I’m stuck I’d go do something else. I’ll go walk in the park, see my mum, ride a bike in the field, cook lunch for ten friends, go sit meditate in temple that is a few hundred years old, get beaten at tennis by a young friend, or blow up my kite and go kite-boarding in the sea. They all help me look at the world, reflect on my position and think of the questions I want to ask.
Even if you tell yourself to stop thinking your subconscious won’t. With my background as an advertising creative director, I’m good at judging and killing ideas, especially my own. So, that’s my only way. If I don’t feel that it’s a good enough idea, I’ll keep thinking. There is no point creating work I don’t believe in.
Making tableware is another kind of meditation for me. My Ripple series of tableware gave me a meditative feel without having to go to the temple. The repetitive movements of making them kept my mind focussed on crafting new ideas.
A visitor sat and meditated on the skulls at Wat Prayoon. Bangkok Art Biennal.e 2018. Photograph by Nino Sarabutra.
Let’s talk about the evolution of your practice over the years. Tell us about your commitment to your current medium.
My main medium is ceramics, loved it from day one. I studied it as a teenager and still love the process of creation. I also enjoy working with other medium. To me the idea is most important. If it’s a great idea but cannot be executed with ceramic, I try something else like glass, metal or acrylic.
What We Do For Love. Contemporary artist Nino Sarabutra. ARDEL Third Place Gallery. Bangkok. 2017. Photograph by Silpree Wan.
How does your audience interact and react to your work?
Audience interaction and reaction to my work vary in terms of depth and direction. Each installation is different. Some are very interactive, and some ask many questions that require personal answers. Some ask one question but might take someone six months to think of an answer. They are still live online and open to new answers.
Also when my work is installed in different spaces, reactions are different too. For example in the skulls installation in ARDEL gallery in Bangkok, people walked around, sat down, lay down or even tried hand or head stands on them.
What are you looking for when you look at other artists’ work? Which shows, performances and experiences have shaped your own creative process?
In Palazzo Grimani in Venice, the long strip of skulls in the middle of the museum made people walk as if they were on a catwalk. At the Bangkok Art Biennale, 2018, where the skulls were placed on a circular walkway around the big white pagoda in the temple, people walked around meditatively in full circle. Some walked around there times clockwise, as it is in Buddhist ritual. Some sat down and meditated. Many people revisited the installation more than once. Many people helped replace skulls, moved by other visitors. Nearly a hundred volunteers came to help hand-wash them at the end of four months of exhibition. This process of interacting with the work builds awareness and understanding of what I try to communicate, although I also ensure it is fun.
Seeing other people’s work is different, in many ways. I never have a favourite painting or sculpture. It is the whole experience. I could spend days at the classic sculpture section in the Louvre but couldn’t be bothered with the crowd that queues up to see the Mona Lisa again. I’d rather go for a walk in the park and enjoy the beauty of the atmosphere, with one or two sculptures or statutes there. Overcrowded museums really kill the joy for me.
I love it when something sticks to my head or my heart after seeing an exhibition or a show. It could even be a smile.
To Live Or To Live A Good Life. Contemporary artist Nino Sarabutra. Creative House. Bangkok. 2011. Photograph by Nino Sarabutra.
How do you resolve the duality that exists between the commercial and the creative?
I consider myself lucky to have a good gallery to work with, a gallery that trusts me. It is important to find a gallery that believes that good art does not always mean good sales. If Thavorn Koudomvit of ARDEL didn’t give me a chance to show my What Will You Leave Behind? installation in 2013, no one would get to see this work in Singapore, New York, Venice or at the Bangkok Art Biennale. I wouldn’t have ever created the whole installation of 125,000 porcelain skulls. For this, I thank him.
As an artist I have to believe in an idea before I start creating it. Most of the pieces I make are large installations, some very costly to build. And I am my own funder. The 125,000 skulls, for example, cost half a million baht just for the materials and firing. You shouldn’t consider becoming an artist unless you are willing to throw all your money and effort into an idea.
If there is a brief for the project, I will look at the brief and analyse if there is way I can create something to answer it nicely without sacrificing my soul. Otherwise, I just say no. It is easy to say yes but it’s more important to learn to say no when your heart isn’t in it. I think if people ask you something they should also expect that the answer can go either way.
Contemporary artist Nino Sarabutra in studio. Photograph by Chaiwat Kangsamrith.
What was your first sale? Do you handle the commercials yourself or is it outsourced to a gallery or an agent?
I was in the Sculpture Academy (now Art Academy) in London in 2003, working with clay for the first time after 13 years. I left a set of work out of the kiln on the table before calling it a day. When I arrived the next day, I found a note with a phone number of someone who wanted to buy the work. That was the first sale.
It was not until 2009 that I did my first solo, when I sold about 60 per cent of the work. That inspired me to keep going. From then on, I have sold my work through different galleries and later by myself at my studio. I don’t have an agent.
Exploring Love. Contemporary artist Nino Sarabutra. The Garden Gallery. Bangkok. Photograph by Ratchamon Weerasuwat.
Think of the biggest professional risk you have taken. What helped you take that risk?
A risk is a risk, big or small. Any decision you make, there’s always a risk in it. Taking a new job, a new position, firing at higher temperatures… everything is a risk.
Becoming a full-time artist is a big risk, especially for someone who was used to a good salary every month. But this is a life choice. One doesn’t become an artist to be stable. Otherwise you stick with the corporate world or a civil servant job.
I think taking risks makes us feel alive. It excites me. I would ask myself what is the worst this will do to me. Running out of money? Fail? If it doesn’t kill me, I’ll still be ok.
So nothing can be considered ‘the biggest risk’ yet, in my opinion. I’m still waiting for that.
What Will You Leave Behind. Contemporary artist Nino Sarabutra. ARDEL Third Place gallery. 2013. Photograph by Nino Sarabutra.
What is the best piece of advice you have received? Why was it helpful?
I love hearing good advice. I’m not judging which one is best yet. Still open for more.
Volunteers helped clean the skulls after 4 months. What will you leave behind. Wat Prayoon. Bangkok Art Biennale. 2018.
Tell us about your studio.
It’s a three bedroom house in Bangkok’s suburb with a little garden where I grow herbs, spices and flowering trees. I work here, sleep here and socialise here as well.
I only need about six hours of sleep, so I work a lot. And, I love it. On normal days I start working right after breakfast. I normally cook myself a quick healthy lunch, continue to work until dinner and then I cook again and then continue working till late. And, by saying work, it can vary from research, sketching, sculpting, mould making, glazing, firing, emailing, answering interview questions like this one, chasing quotes for transport or insurance of the work for different shows, posting photos on social media, replying to comments or personal messages on Instagram or Facebook, taking pictures of new pieces and so on.
Could you describe your usual work day in the studio?
If I have functions or openings to go to, I have to stop working around 3 pm because of Bangkok’s traffic. I don’t go to many mid-week openings. It’s just takes too much time, unless it’s someone super close or important.
If I have visitors for lunch, I start earlier. Lunch might last until three pm or am, depending on the working season and who the guests are.
Sometime I have friends or family visit me. Then I get back to “normal people routine” and stop working around five or six pm and socialise.
Contemporary artist Nino Sarabutra in studio. Photograph by Chaiwat Kangsamrith.
Are you more of a studio artist or naturally collaborative by nature? How do you feel about commissions?
I am definitely a studio artist. I love to collaborate if the theme, the thought or the other artist is interesting or have something I feel we could be great at. Don’t mind commission work if it fits me.
Part of 40 volunteers helped installing the skulls. Photograph by Ratchamon Weerasuwat.
What are you working on now? What’s coming next season?
I’m working on new pieces in addition to three installations that I will put together in the new gallery opened by MOCA Bangkok in June. Also I am developing new ideas based on my roots in Isan, northeast of Thailand. That’s for a solo show next year.
In April, I will have a group show with three friends I met in Paris last summer. Our first show will combine the work we made in Paris. It will open on April 16 at the HuMBASE Stuttgart, Germany, then move to the 019 gallery in Ghent, Belgium, on May 8, that’s if the coronavirus still allows us.
What Will You Leave Behind. Contemporary artist Nino Sarabutra. ARDEL Third Place gallery. 2013. Photograph by Nino Sarabutra.
Let’s talk about your career, or if you prefer artistic journey. What were your biggest learning and hiccups along the way?
I’m still learning every day. Every new work, new installation brings new challenges. No matter how organised I am, there will still be problems. There is no such thing as smooth as silk! Even if I plan months in advance and make sure I finish all the pieces in time, there are still structures to be built, wires to be connected, composition, lighting, the heat, the sun, the political coup, the protest and now the coronavirus. Hiccups? We need a bigger word than that.
Let’s talk about your frameworks, references and process. What inspires you?
Humans. I’m inspired by human beings. I love people. Everyone is different. It is fascinating seeing how people react differently or indifferently to something, someone, some ideas or situations.
For enquiries contact: nino_sarabutra@hotmail.com
Before you go – you might like to browse our Artist Interviews. Interviews of artists and outliers on how to be an artist. Contemporary artists on the source of their creative inspiration.