Laos: Khamsouk Keomingmuang

Khamsouk Keomingmuang

Street address: Ban Nongboathong, Muang Sikhottabong, Vientiane, Laos

Telephone: 856 (0) 21 223484, 856 (0) 20 770 9195

Khamsouk Keomingmuang was born in Savannaket Province in 1942. Trained at the Hà Nội University of Fine Art in Việt Nam, Khamsouk taught at the National School of Fine Arts (now the National Faculty of Fine Arts) before taking up appointment as Director General of the Ministry of Information and Culture's Department of Fine Arts. Since retiring from government service he has devoted his time to being a freelance artist.

Khamsouk has participated widely in group exhibitions, both in Laos and elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region, including the Art Exhibition of Socialist Countries, Gasanoda, Russia (1987), the 4th Asian Art Show in Fukuoka, Japan (1991), the 7th Asian Art Bienniale in Bangladesh (1993), the 36 IDEAS from Asia: Contemporary South East Asian Art travelling exhibition (2002-3) organised by Singapore Art Museum in co-operation with Stiftung fur Kunst & Kultur and ASEAN COCI, and the Tracks: Contemporary Southeast Asian Arts exhibition (2004) organised by the Singapore Art Museum He has also participated in group exhibitions in Germany, Hungary, Italy and Australia and has presented numerous solo exhibitions of his work in Laos. In 2005 Khamsouk presented his work at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan, with sponsorship from the Japan Foundation.

The following is reproduced with the kind permission of the Singapore Art Museum:

Drawing and painting have been one constant in Khamsouk's highly changeful life. As a boy he used charcoal to draw simple images on anything he could find. The young Khamsouk also spent part of his childhood playing near a temple where monks performed rituals, and it was here that he found himself attracted to the paper or cloth images of the Buddha which surrounded him. For a time he supported himself by selling Buddhist drawings in the temple. Even throughout his days in the jungle as a soldier of the liberation army, he continued to cultivate his artistic abilities. It was only much later that Khamsouk purposed a conventional artistic education by attending and graduating from the Hà Nội University of Fine Art in Việt Nam.

Khamsouk's works are inspired by his early memories of Buddhist images, fond recollections from childhood and a strong sense of the poverty he suffered. His works, like Hmong New Year (1999), a scene of ethnic minority folk in traditional attire welcoming the new year with dance, is set against the backdrop of lively, swaying trees. It betrays the artists' belief in the close relationship between people and nature, and is a palpable manifestation of his past.

His recent works, such as Cows in Metamorphosis (2003) and Daily Food (2002) continue an oeuvre suffused with vibrant, almost kaleidoscopic colour. Other works hint at the artist's growing development as a social commentator; the appearance of montages of industrial chaos and animals in flight or distress is a poignant elucidation of difficult times.

Previously a teacher in the the National School of Fine Arts (now the National Faculty of Fine Arts) and Director General of the Ministry of Information and Culture's Department of Fine Arts, Khamsouk Keomingmuang now devotes his time to being a full-time freelance artist.