NARONG TINTAMUSIK

Narong Tintamusik is an artist based in Dallas, TX. As a survivor of abuse, his work is autobiographical and at the intersection of mental well-being, nature, and the spiritual. Through painting and its iterations, he reconciles the innocence lost during his youth and makes attempts to understand how past trauma reincarnates into various forms in the present. Often figurative, the work draws from his own lived experiences while combining Buddhist teachings, Thai folklore, and his fascination with the environment.

Born in Dallas, TX, he lived in Bangkok, Thailand for 10 years. He obtained his Biology undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Dallas with a minor in visual arts in 2014. He has exhibited in group shows locally in Dallas, TX and beyond including New York, Canada, and Germany. Solo exhibitions include 500X Gallery, Dallas, TX and Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX. He is the recipient of the DeGoyler Memorial Fund from the Dallas Museum of Art in 2015. He is currently a part of Artist Co-op 500X Gallery.

In addition to being an artist, Tintamusik is an art collector and independent curator where his focus often lies on the ideas of identity, queerness, sexuality, Asian diaspora, figuration, abstraction, fashion, love, and nature. He is an advocate for emerging artists in terms of collecting their works early in their careers. His curatorial projects include Queer Me Now: The Queer Body and Gaze at 500X Gallery and The MAC in Dallas, TX and Human/Nature at Fort Worth Community Arts Center in Fort Worth, TX. He also started Musik, a virtual curatorial platform that offers solo exhibitions to artists without gallery representation through invitational and open calls.

Hi Narong! Thanks for joining me for Mint Tea. To begin, what’s your favorite tea? If you don’t drink tea, what kind of coffee or drink do you enjoy the most?

I like coffee, and my go to coffee drink is a caffe latte.

Could you tell me about your background and your practice?

I’m a Dallas-based artist primarily working in painting, whatever that might be, could be a painting on paper or a sculpture, or it can be a digital work. I've been getting into jewelry, as well. I studied biology for my undergrad at University of Texas, Dallas, and I graduated in 2014. I've been a working artist here in Dallas since then, and I still I still work in their environmental testing field as my day job. A lot of my work is autobiographical, it's psychological and usually very spontaneous, as I try not to work on the piece for too long, so a lot of my works take pretty much like 45 minutes to an hour each. I really want my work just to be in the moment because of all the other responsibilities that I have in my life. I like to keep it short that way.

What projects are you working on right now?

I have some sculptures in the works. I have some paintings, as well, on paper in my garage studio. I'm also doing some collages because I have some shows coming up in September. I have a solo show in September and I also have some other ones in 2022 as well. So I’m trying to have substantial works that are new for the show within these coming months.

I am the most familiar with your acrylic paintings and collages. Can you talk about how and why you choose to work with the media that you do?

I actually started painting in high school, but that wasn't really my go-to medium. In high school it was drawing, usually charcoal or pen or pencil, but in college I actually finally took a painting class. But we did everything in oil, and oil is stinky, and because you use a lot of chemicals to wash down the oils or clean your paintbrushes. I don't want to deal with that with that hazard, so I don’t do that. But funny thing is that instead of using oil, which has all these chemical hazards, I went to spray paint and acrylics, because I think it just kind of fit into my style – washing the acrylic off with water. It also dries really quick, so I think it fit because of my lifestyle and my thought process, which is very quick and spontaneous. I didn't really think oil was a good idea for me beyond that one art class, so I just stuck to acrylics. Yeah, the spray paint, I actually found spray paint through a friend in college that uses it for his art. I was like, “I want to try that too!” I just love the big bold coverage of spray paint. Also spray paint is very compatible with acrylic, so they kind of work hand in hand together. And the collage is actually kind of recent – I think I started collage like last year. I would paint these big paintings, like 90 by 90 inches, but you know, painting on paper that big is just not feasible because sometimes I couldn't roll it up properly for storage. So I had this big painting on paper and I said, “might as well cut it up to make a collage.” So it was mostly about working big and ephemerally, like just to do it and just getting rid of it. To cut down these big paintings on paper and collage them into smaller books – that way I can keep them.

What is your painting process like? Do you begin the painting with a specific image or emotion in mind, or does it evolve organically as you react to different elements?

It's very organic, but sometimes, if I have like a show that I need to create a specific theme, I have some imagery in my head. But usually when I'm not, sometimes when I don't have responsibilities or deadlines to work for, I just kind of try to just be as spontaneous, organic, as can be. How I usually start my paintings, I just put a layer of acrylic paint, could be like a single color or multiple colors, then I would do layers of spray paint on top of the acrylic. It kind of gives you this almost vibrating look, with for example a yellow spray paint and blue acrylic, so they kind of have this blue and yellow look but also often it's a weird intersection. And while it’s still wet, I would just get a palette knife and try to be like a little kid and scrape the paper to see like what shapes can come out. I don't really intend to create specific shapes, I’m pretty much just drawing things until I see something, and there will be a point where I see something that I want to expand upon and build upon. So that's my process, just adding more spray paint on top and drawing more shapes over and over until I see shapes that I'd like to keep, and I just keep on pushing down until I create a finished artwork.

What inspires your images?

A lot of my works are about self-portraiture, it’s very autobiographical. A lot of my works are about my experience as a survivor of abuse, because I didn't really have that space to talk about what happened to me at such a young age. Also when you're Asian American it’s kind of difficult to talk about mental health, so it was kind of space for me to say what I've been through and how it affected me now and what potentially my future might be. And a lot of my work is also strangely inspired by my educational background in biology and my early interest in nature when I was a child and my parents took me a lot to these places outside the city like the beach, and I've been to so many national parks here in the States. In a way, nature kind of speaks to rejuvenation, rebirth, also a place of contemplation, isolation. I also like to bring in traditional Buddhist elements and tie those into the work, like reincarnation, maybe recondition trauma, those kinds of things like the supernatural, ghosts, haunting, maybe being haunted by the self or the past. It's kind of this weird intersection of being a survivor of abuse, mental health, nature the supernatural, the spiritual, all comes into this one image. I don't think it quite leans to a single thing.

How do you decide the colors and the combinations of colors you use in your works?

Yeah, color is important, I think. I don't know, because it's kind of like, I put one color down and then I kind of put the other one. I don't really think too much about the complementary colors. I sometimes do complimentary colors, but sometimes I just put all cool colors. I guess I'm just reacting to the piece. Oddly, I actually don't use brown for some reason. I think it reminds me of leather, or wood, or like soil. I don't think it kind of fits into my palette, all the browns, but the colors are not really thought out. I think they all look good together for some reason. It’s almost a naive mindset, like I think this color and this color just looks good. I just have to kind of just do it.

I can spot figures in your work. Do they function as a type of self-portrait or are they something else?

I think the figures are self-portraiture, but like to think they're maybe more like the psyche or the spiritual self or something like that. I guess they're very kind of fluid figures, almost like they're kind of like living in water or something like that. They're not really quite concrete. Some of them aren’t very distinct figures. Yeah, they are self-portraits in a way because I'm exploring my mental health and wellness. A lot of these, some places I situate them in, they're like these caves or open landscapes with a desert or mounds, those kind of things. Because the style kind of calls for more abstract forms, that's why sometimes you can see figures, sometimes there are not figures.

Can you talk about any imagery or symbols that you like to work with?

Lately, I'm inspired by the ocean. I always wanted to be a marine biologist when I was growing up. My favorite toys were these sea creature figurines. Like, I had Power Rangers and Godzilla, they're cool and all, but I just loved the figurines. I had the sea otter, the manta ray... A lot of the elements I’ve been working with now – I've been including a lot of spikes and protrusions, like corals or sea urchins, as armor or protection. Also, right now I’m thinking a lot about those gates at temples, these very ornate gates when you first walk in a temple are very prominent in in Thai culture and Buddhist culture. Thinking about these gates, almost like spiritual gates, and maybe kind of erotic openings or orifices, those kinds of things. I don't really take the inspiration or the symbols too literally, it's more like feeling inspired by them and kind of giving it my own twist.

You talked a lot about your art in connection with healing. Is there a specific movement or quality to your painting that you find the most healing?

I don't know, I don't think people talk about that a lot, like art can be healing. But then again, not a lot of people use art for that purpose. I think just having the same routine in a way, like, I put the acrylic on the paper, I put the spray paint on the paper, and then try to scrape it and draw things. I think when you have some sort of routine, where you have like a goal you want to accomplish, after you accomplish these small goals, as you're working on this piece, you feel relieved by things that you can't control. I feel when you have this control, that you’re just hitting all your marks as you make this work, it’s kind of where I feel free. You feel like whatever is going on in front is within control of your hands, your body. That's how I think of it.

Can you talk about any imagery or symbols that you like to work with?

Yeah, I like to work with these spirit shapes, like figures with these long tails, almost like a ghost or a spirit source. Also, lately I've loved putting a lot of eyes, like eyes in the sky. Maybe I'm inspired by the Great Gatsby book cover with the carnival and the eyes, putting a lot of these eyes in the sky or in the mountains or in the water or something like that. It's almost like personifying nature. I like to think that, because in Buddhist belief or in Thai culture, we think of these ghosts that live in like the banana tree or in the mountains, or they have these living things within nature. So in a way adding these eyes into these places, it’s almost maybe like the aspirational self or maybe the future self or something. I don't know, I can't really quite understand why I did it, but I kind of feel like it's almost like you have your present self, looking at your higher self in the sky, or something like that.

When did you start incorporating collage into your practice? How did it begin?

I started collage last year, when I started making these big paintings on paper, 90 by 90 inches, and I kind of tacked them on the wall of my garage. I did these 90 by 90 paintings on paper, and tried to finish them within the hour, because the paint was drying so quickly. After that, I liked these big paintings, but I just didn't know how to keep them, because they were just so tactile and thick. The way I did it is, I mounted two pieces of paper and I kind of glued the middle with Elmer’s glue. But it didn't quite roll up nicely, so I just got frustrated, and I just cut it up and just put these cutouts into a small piece of paper to be collaged. That's how it started last year, but I still keep on making these big paintings, in my garage or sometimes I will do a site-specific painting, which I'll just paint on site from start to finish like how I do in my studio, but in the gallery space. I'll have these big paintings left over from the shows and cut them up for collage.

I just like these kinds of things where you can destroy previous work and you create new work out of it. You kind of see these remnants of the past work, but it's almost in a new body in a way. You're almost extracting, like, the soul from the previous work and bringing it into the new pieces. That kind of thing, it’s like I'm kind of reincarnating the pieces in a way.

I see that you are also working on sculptures. Can you talk about the relationship between your painting practice and your sculptural works? How does working in multiple media affect your practice?

I love that I get to do sculpture now. I actually started sculpture this year. I had this fantasy of wanting to be a sculptor for a while, but I was just afraid to do sculpture. The last sculpture I did was in ninth grade. It was like one of those wire figure sculptures. I feel like mine was like, almost the worst one. So I was kind of putting these negative thoughts in my head, like, I can't be a sculptor, from that one moment in time. So I did painting in college. But this year, I finally did sculpture, and I think it's fun to break it up - to break up the 2-D works with 3-D works. But in a way I like to think of sculptures as paintings as well, because it's not 100% on the form of the 3-D piece, it also has to be about the painting in the end, like how the colors come together on the 3-D pieces. In a way it's not really quite a separate practice from a 2-D painting. People say, “it looks like just like your paintings, like it came out from your painting.” I think that to me, that's the goal, to have some kind of continuity in the world. They don't want to be separate bodies of work; they just have to come together.

What are your favorite colors? Do they find their way into your artworks?

My favorite color is red. If you're into astrology, I'm an Aries, so I guess red kind of speaks to me. It's a really bright color, it’s a very unforgettable color. But I think I use red too much sometimes, so I've tried to not forget about the other colors in my toolbox.

Is there a new medium that you would like to try or to work in more?

I recently got into jewelry. That’s more like a craft, but if I want to say a medium, I want to do new media – video, animation. I could kind of see my figures go into that realm with new media, animation, that kind of thing. So that's what I want to learn, but I feel like it's gonna take a while. I have done 2-D digital works before and I can do the static 2-D digital pieces, so I want to see what it’s like with moving images.

Where are you located now? Do you think where you are located influences your practice?

I like to think so. I live in Dallas, Texas right now. It is definitely not like a mega art city like LA or New York, but in a way I kind of like that you could definitely be a big fish in a small pond, in a way. You can really put yourself out there and people will know you and get to remember your name really well if you're just doing it so often, because this is just a small, tight-knit community. Everybody kind of knows each other in that kind of sense. In a way, having that support from the community, from your friends, from institutions, from galleries helps nurture your spirits. Like, you can you can tell yourself, “you can do this, you can keep on going,” that kind of thing. The size of the community is small, but you feel like they're backing you up, because of that, so I think it helps.

How do you stay connected to your community?

I like to go to a lot of art openings on the weekends. I'm also part of an artist-run gallery, called 500X Gallery, where we show work and host juried shows for the community, so we get to meet a lot of people even though we're not personally showing. I also have Musik as well – it’s a curatorial virtual platform. Also, Instagram and social media, I think that's how that's how we all stay connected.

Tell me more about Musik Curatorial. How did it begin?

Musik first came to be during the pandemic last June, because I wanted to I have this platform to show artists that are usually underrepresented. I love artists that I feel might have been glossed over, or maybe they didn't have enough institutional support. I like working with emerging artists. I started with Eric Lotzer, he's an artist that I collected for a long time. He studied at Hunter for his MFA and he recently graduated and moved to LA. So I kind of started from there, and it was it was a nice platform to offer when physical spaces were closed down.

What’s your favorite tool?

My favorite tool is actually the palette knife. I guess I don't really paint with the paint brush. The only time I use paint brushes is when I put paint on the paper or the sculpture, so it's only more for application and I don't usually use it to paint. I just put paint for coverage and use the palette knife to scrape the paint and try to manipulate the paint and create these marks on the piece. Because I use the acrylic base and then the spray paint top layer, when I scrape using the palette knife it kind of reveals the bottom layer while keeping the top layer of the spray paint. You kind of have these two colors going on in the piece – you have the line being in magenta and you have the top layer being in yellow. That's why I don't really paint with a paintbrush. I kind of like – it’s almost like a violent mark scraping and making these shapes. I think it fits me, I don’t know.

What is the space where you do your work?

I think the studio, because I usually don't try to take the concept outside the studio as much. When I come to work, this is where I have to brainstorm and do all the work, and then once I leave the studio I’m off to focus on other things. The studio has been like an almost like an incubator for ideas. My studio is in the garage. I don't have a separate studio, but my garage has an overhead fan so it is good for the spray paint and the smelly stuff. I only use like one fourth of a 200 square foot garage.

Do you have any ritual that helps you get into the zone?

I don't know, I don't think I have like a ritual because I work my nine to five job. Well, actually it's from like 10:30 to 7:30, so it's kind of like I have this weird gap in the morning where I have enough time to get up and actually do stuff. So I just kind of do whatever I can fit. I usually brush my teeth and take the dogs out for a walk, and after I come back I have maybe an hour of free time. So that's when I usually work on music or work on other stuff like art. I guess that would be like a ritual. I usually don't work on art at night. I don't know, I feel like when you come back home, you just want to not do mental work.

When do you know when you are finished with your artwork or a body of work?

I don't know, I think you just look at it and go, “it's done.” If you feel like it's whole, like nothing's missing. You look at it and there’s something about that feels like it's complete. It's a feeling that you have to trust yourself. Some pieces, I look at them like, “yeah, this is crap.” It's not good. But it's finished. It's crappy but it's finished. In a way if it feels finished, so you have to just leave it alone.

Who are your favorite practicing artists?

I have so many, but just to list a few: I love Heather Benjamin, I love Eric Lotzer, I love Bumin Kim. Bumin Kim's a local Korean artist who paints with thread. She creates this great beautiful gradient. I guess I like people who are a little bit different, in a way. I like Eric's and Heather’s work in terms of the eroticism, but also they're doing more drawing, have more finesse, tightness, and I like Bumin’s thread paintings pushing the boundaries of what can be a painting. I like artists that are kind of similar in vein with the concept but with different execution, or also artists who are expanding the definition of painting.

What gives you the feeling of butterflies in your stomach?

I guess a finished artwork? I don't know, I had this weird thing where I would finish painting the work in the morning and I'd come back and I just would look at it, like babysit it just to see dry. I don't know, I think some artists do that, not just me. I feel like even though you know what the work is going to look like, it's almost like you coming into like babysit the work, like, “Hey, how are you doing?” I feel like that gave me butterflies, because it's like seeing like your baby coming into the world. You just have this baby out and you just feel this excitement, “oh my God, look, this is beautiful!”

www.ntintamusik.com | @narong.tintamusik