The River City arts and antiques center is one of those places in BKK I visit when in need to get inspired and artistically energised. Although this time our intention was to see a multimedia exhibition – “The Impressionists”, it definitely wasn’t the highlight of our day…

 

I must say that I was quite excited to hang out with my lifelong passions – Monet,  Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh, Gauguin and the rest, but on this occasion, our encounter turned out to be somewhat disappointing: an hour of wall projections of selected works by all the major representatives of the movement and a few prints of their works with quotes, and several setups for taking photos.  It’s something that is more aimed at students and families, and we felt it was not worth the money we paid for it – 700 THB for two (comparing to original Andy Warhol works we had seen a few months before for the same price).

However, all the other exhibitions we saw (free of charge) definitely made up for it!

My absolute favourite was Venus in the Shell by a Thai artist Phannapast “Yoon” Taychamaythakool, who created a magical world that takes us to the exploration of our dualities – the light and darkness in all of us. I was simply blown away by the richness of colours, emotions, and imagination. It was like dropping down that rabbit hole with Alice and turning up in the Southeast Asian version of Wonderland. As Yoom has a degree in fashion design, her works were discovered by Gucci’ creative director Alessandro Michele, and she has already done several projects with the famous brand.

After this wondrous experience, I discovered an exhibition by an Italian photographer, Antonio Saba, who in his search for beauty creates amazing dreamlike scenes that definitely inflame one’s imagination. Some of his sets include the most beautiful and exclusive hotels, hospitality, business structures in the world (including Bangkok).

 In a dark corner of the 4th floor, I  found myself suddenly sucked into a cave-like space of the Crystal Walk, an exhibition by Agata Gallery that displays more than 20 crystal formations found in the USA, France, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Indonesia, and India collected over 15 years by a geologist and the owner, Robert McLeod. Their beauty is yet another testament that no artist can ever come close to mother Earth.

These are just a few of numerous exhibits of art and antiques that can be found in many small galleries located on four floors of the River City. Hidden treasures simply await on every corner!

At the very end of my tour, I found myself totally enwrapped (mentally and physically!) with gorgeous cashmere scarfs available in a boutique on the ground floor. Needless to say that my darling had been already enjoying his coffee at the Starbucks with the best view for quite a while!

PS you can find these Studio 54 earrings in blue/silver and red/gold in my Shop!