Highly valued as one of the emerging artists of the contemporary art scene, Attasit Pokpong is arriving in Venice with fourteen new paintings. His new exhibition, significantly titled “Time flies”, will open on 8 July at the Galleria Ravagnan, Dorsoduro.

The exhibition features new hyperrealistic portraits of Asian women with brightly coloured lips, in sharp contrast with their soft, pale complexions. These intriguing paintings look just like photographs, and have the capability of conveying the freshness of a youthful gaze mixed with an ineffable sense of unease. The inexorable passing of time, and the great changes which have occurred in recent years, have left their marks on these portraits – on these young women with resolute or disillusioned stares.

The same faces seem to recur, in the name of a painterly hyperrealism which aims at highlighting the immense effort that is required of Thai women in the construction of their own identity. It is worth remembering that even today, women in Thailand are politically and socially underrepresented, because of the countless structural barriers and cultural impediments besetting the country.

Living and working in Thailand, Attasit Pokpong is considered a master of both watercolour and oil painting. His realistic, Pop Art-inspired approach makes his art immediately recognizable.

Since 2004 his works have been exhibited in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris, Dublin, Edinburgh, Japan and New York. In such a relatively short time, he has left a considerable mark on the aesthetics of contemporary Asian art.