Vong Phaophanit
Vong Phaophanit was born in 1961 in Laos (since 1975 People's Democratic Republic of Laos). He was educated in France (1972-80), and studied painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Aix-en-provence (1980-85). Being separated from his family, who remained in Laos from 1973 to 1993, when they were able to visit him in England, possibly led Vong Phaophanit to include photographs of them in some of his earlier work. Not surprisingly, memory plays an important part in his work, as do some of the materials he uses; bamboo, rubber and rice, for example, are significant because of their Asian origin.
Installation, with its origin in Dada and Surrealism, whether using small parts of a space, or a whole room, is his current way of working. His bamboo installation at the Chisenhale Gallery, London, in 1991 brought together light, movement, Laotian text (on the ceremonial gateway through which one entered the installation) and sound as the bamboos rattled together when disturbed. Since then Vong Phaophanit has frequently used Laotian text in his work. The nine red neon words of Litterae Lacentes (Light Writing) at Killerton Park, Devon, in 1993 were placed on a garden wall where bamboo and palm trees had been planted. He did not translate the words for his audience, thus keeping much of the power of the work to himself.
Vong Phaophanit exhibits regularly, both in Britain and abroad. He was shortlisted for the Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery in 1993, where he exhibited his famous Neon Rice Field, mounds of rice in straight lines covering neon lights. The translucency of the rice caused the mounds to glow around the central, brighter neon core. Azure Neon Body, his installation at Goodwood, shows a continued interest in language, light and the painterly qualities that can be manifest in materials other than paint. Vong Phaophanit lives and works in Exeter and is visiting lecturer at Chelsea College of Art, London.
