Artist : Seni Chaemdet

As far as I can remember. when I was Young I was so tiny compared with friends of the same age, my mother would worry sick about me and constantly urged me to eat a lot in order to grow bigger, She was afraid begin so small would make it difficult for me to earn a living. There is plenty of food to eat compared with the next-door children who have little to eat, < I thought to myself > Butwhen she took me to the temple to make merits,I experienced a certrain kind of peace within the religious environment. I felt full and slept well.

Therefore, the temple has become my mental nourishment ever since, It makes me wonder whether present-day children have the time to go to the temple. Especially in urban society, a lot of time is spent in vehicles which have become like movable homes. This kind of environment forces me to be alienated from the temple. My lifestyle changed because fate brought me to Silpakorn University to further my art studies at a high level, in spite of the face that my knowledge and ability were not on a par with the Bangkok students. For this reason, I studied hard decause I valued the work of art which is comperhensible and touchable, and also keep myself from going astray with the teenagers way of life. It can be said that what has driven me and shaped my aspiration all along is the creation of artistc work which have replace the temple as my mental nourishment and filled up what is missing in me. I have learnt From experience that art has taught me how to drink creatively, how to use the colors white, black and gray. It has taught me about the harmony and balance in art, the difference and the contrast between blue and yellow, red and green etc. The value of art is comparable to life. One has to strike the balance between hevry and light, too much and too little, what is good and bad, what ought to be done and what ought not.

The Lord buddha laid down the Buddhist principles in the Tripitaka which comprises 84,000 Sections. In face, he stressed only one principle: the enlightenment in causes and effects, Everything has its own causal condition, Man as a knower should try to understand and gain insight into the origin and transformation of things. the happiness and the suffering, the good and the bad, originate from the same basis. We know what is right and wrong, it all depends on our choice, Like a piece of paper, in ones hand it is valuable: if one throws it on the road or in a bin, it is just an object. The true base is the mind. It depands on how it is nurtured and deverloped. Its character and preferces depend on its wisdom. each person has the same root in humanity.

We still find ourselves empty and lost. When we talk about the realm of art which can be seen an d touched, even though it is full of creativity, instead we find that when we communicate with it, we are like the mute. We become blind and deaf. oursenses are completely numb. We feel like the underwater lotus, all the truths of the world, be they the peace of the gold color, the brightness of red, the shininess of turquoise, the majesty of yellow and the freshness of green, are seen though a glass darkly. Our thoughts have been conditioned by orders, even also by ourselves. Inertia and valgarity keeps piling up so much so that we cannot see the world of art with clcrity. This world is, however, not beyond our reach. it is in ourselves.