Merging natural, mythical, and cyber phenomena
By Supawich Weesapen, with Sharrona Valezka

‘A Day in the Life’ is a series by A&M where we invite artists to share a day in their life through images accompanied by brief descriptions.

Supawich Weesapen is a Thai artist who delves into the intersections of natural, mythical, and cyber phenomena and depicts them in his oil paintings. Simultaneously examining the tangible and unknown, his practice draws inspiration from a myriad of resources. This includes his surrounding environments, the virtual and digital world, as well as the spiritual and sublime, namely age-old symbols, cosmological occurrences and origin tales.

In this ‘A Day in the Life’ feature, Supawich introduces his project, ‘Starry Web Regeneration’. It is currently displayed as a part of Bangkok Art Biennale 2024 at the National Gallery Bangkok, from 24 October 2024 to 25 February 2025.

Supawich Weesapen, ‘Starry Web Regeneration’ project (part of Bangkok Art Biennale 2024), 2024, installation view at The National Gallery, Thailand. Image courtesy of the artist.

‘Starry Web Regeneration’ is a project exploring how our connection to the Earth and cosmos has diminished as we connect to our screens. One night, I went out to see a comet but found the sky obscured by pollution. Instead of viewing images on my phone, many of us are now “looking down” at the same cyber sky rather than up.

This experience led me to consider how stargazing, a source of connection, is fading. I aim to create a new paradigm linking the virtual sky with the physical sky, inspired by the Tai Ahom myth of two spiders weaving the sky, suggesting that our online experiences and the material world are woven into the same fabric.

Can we feel unity with the Earth—now cybernetic and filled with satellites—while viewing stars through our screens? This project invites us to explore that possibility conspiratorially.

Supawich Weesapen, ‘The Thumb Touch, 2024’, oil on linen, 180 x 300cm (vertical diptyque). Image courtesy of Kanrapee Chokpaiboon.

When creating ‘The Thumb Touch’, I reflected on how we impact the Earth simply by touching a screen. While our touch is often the final action in a chaotic process, it carries significant meaning. The bottom part of my work is inspired by a copper mine, as copper is widely used in the electrical industry. I want to create an image that resembles a mark left by pressing or stamping a thumb on the Earth. This will highlight the potential of our thumbs, which are iconic in this cyborg era—a period I might casually refer to as the "Thumbocene", a thumb-centric moment in history.

Supawich adjusts his painting in his house studio. Image courtesy of Kanrapee Chokpaiboon.

My workspace in my house is just around 3 by 4 metres. All of my paintings are created in this studio, so I often have to rearrange and move things around to make more space for painting. While it may sound cumbersome, this setup is convenient and reliable for me. I can manage my time freely and paint whenever I like.

For one of my artworks, I weaved a long reflective finger trap. The material is reflective fabric, which is mostly used in traffic jackets. It reflects toward the light source.

Supawich and his self-conspiracy diagram. Image courtesy of the artist.

As a part of my creative process, I create a self-conspiracy diagram to sketch and synthesise ideas, as well as connecting various elements and contexts before poetically translating them into artistic forms.

Follow Supawich Weesapen on Instagram here and visit his website to see more of his works.

Read all A Day in the Life stories here.

All images are courtesy of the artist, unless otherwise stated.

About the Artist

Supawich Weesapen is a Thai artist who merges natural, mythical, and cyber phenomena in his enigmatic, radiant oil paintings. He explores the connections between our environments and inner worlds, weaving together asynchronous realities to provide fresh perspectives on contemporary relationships.