Artist: Channatip Chanvipava
Exhibition title: Spirit Unravelled
Venue: MONTI8, Latina, Italy
Date: October 27 – November 24, 2023
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and MONTI8
“I believe in transcendental experiences that can bring about shifts in our personal faith. I want to lend form to these immaterial and ephemeral moments – using abstraction as a conduit for spirituality.”
Monti8 is excited to announce Spirit Unravelled, a solo exhibition by London-based artist Channatip Chanvipava. This is the first time Chanvipava, who has gained recognition for his autobiographical paintings, will present a show solely based on his faith. These new paintings will be unveiled in the gallery’s garage VISTA, an isolated yet tranquil space.
Growing up in an interfaith family, the artist’s exposure to the richness of dual tradition eclipsed any personal motivation to find one spiritual “truth”; encouraging him to unravel phenomenological distinctions between personal confessions of faith, adherence to religious traditions and a broader spirituality inherent to human existence. It is this inherent, universal spirituality that Chanvipava calls to as he invites the viewer to seek their own affirmations and to draw strength in our contemporary condition.
Chanvipava’s paintings begin with a base layer of paint upon which bold brushstrokes are built up and weaved together. His compositions can suggest figuration and symbolism, but edge consistently towards abstraction. Isolated individual motifs such as vertical lines and amorphous shapes play a crucial role in activating the paintings, serving as an anchor from which to navigate fragmentary, inarticulate projections of the artist’s unconscious mind. In creating ambiguous, complex surfaces of subliminal memories Chanvipava’s paintings deny viewers physiological modes of perception to shift their focus onto the experience of a work or its meditative character. In spiritual terms, this allows for a regeneration of new perspectives or a transcendental experience.
The thoughtful quality of Chanvipava’s paintings, set within the architectural form of the gallery’s garage space VISTA, with its serene atmosphere and natural light, all combine to produce a sacred ambience. The garage, as an institution – akin to our unconscious mind serves as a repository for a personal history of experiences, memories and emotions. Entering its interior, Chanvipava uses the garage as a prism to explore the hidden potentials stored away in these moments and how organising, contemplating and unravelling them can lead to spiritual growth and enlightenment.
