Formerly based in Germany, Somboon Hormtientong’s painterly style vies between controlled geometric harmony and expressive swathes of compositional fluidity inspired by the region near his studio overlooking the Mekong River in the mountains of Chiang Khan, Thailand. Far from contrived pictorial aesthetics, his art is a process of problem solving, of application and reaction. Yet undeniably they are underpinned by swings in cognitive dissonance, a struggle with confidence and determination.

The expressive canvases are discomforting in their deliberately awkward jarring of space and colour form, while the more geometric renderings are constructed with readily identifiable layering that is cooler in mood. Dark, brooding tones imbue a deliberate, calculated minimalism, sometimes reflecting a northern European temperament. Somboon argues that his art isn’t oppressive, that he has maintained an Asian vitality throughout his artistic career. Though not easily identifiable, better described as an attitude, his art permeates with a definite East-West duality

Somboon’s most recent body of work presents an inner dialogue of a person divided, a journey of mind and soul, of someone trying to fathom his existence and place while attempting to communicate with the world at large.

-H Gallery

Image: © Somboon Hormtientong
Courtesy of H Gallery