Gallery Opium

Posted by Greg

February 28, 2008

Pattaya Coast Magazine, March 2008

One of the constants of the natural world is duality, something that we’re all subject to. If you have up, you must have down. If you have dark, you must have light. If you have no hair like me, you must have my insufferable friend Dan, who has hair like Stalin. Another example is Pattaya, Thailand’s infamous playground of the night, which is primed to break out into the big time as many residents work to make sure that the seaside resort town is on the map for more than just beer bars and debauchery.

If you have vice, you must have nice.

One of these people is Alan Kirkland-Roath, who is working hard to get Asia – indeed, the world – to sit up and take notice of Pattaya’s (and Thailand’s) vast pool of talented artists. For the past several years, his art gallery, Gallery Opium, has been making contacts, setting up shows and educating artists not only on the business of art, but the art of the business of art.

It was a circuitous route for Kirkland-Roath that brought him to Pattaya. “I was actually involved in the casino business for 35 years,” says the thin but fit 60-year old. Born in Birmingham, England, he started near the bottom of the game and ended near the top. “I started working on the tables at the beginning – poker, blackjack, roulette – and worked my way upfrom there. It was a financially successful career, but draining – our gaming hours were from 2pm to 6am, and I was essentially on call during that time.” Eventually he became the person in charge of making sure the high-rollers were kept happy, taking them on golf outings and the like. “If you take care of your customers, your customers will take care of the casino,” he smiles. His career in cards took him to Holland, and then back to Birmingham, before he sold his interests to Stanley Leisure, the British gaming giant.

Kirkland-Roath was interested in art from a young age, obsessively studying masters like Monet, Renoit and Cezanne, constantly honing his skills on the side entirely on his own. “Art is something I’ve always been involved in, but once you get married, have children and get a mortgage, it’s a hard way to make a living.” Unfortunately, one’s paycheck doesn’t determine the size of their bills.

He continues, “Once my family was grown up and I had some time and resources, I decided to get back into art in a serious way. I came to visit a friend who lived here, and I just never left.”

Kirkland-Roath saw an opportunity to provide a location able to showcase the talent of contemporary Thai and foreign artists, and Gallery Opium was born. “I’ve heard from many artists in Bangkok that there are a lot of spaces but not a lot of galleries, which is a big difference. We wanted a place where artists could display new and exciting ideas, so we designed the gallery to be totally customizable; we can change the shape of the gallery to suit the art, be it sculpture, painting, mixed-media, whatever.”

In the course of our conversation, Kirkland-Roath that said something that at first struck me as odd but then made total sense once I thought about it: “Thailand – and Bangkok, as the country’s capital – has a real lack of art appreciation.” At first I thought this was a bit strange, because in every tourist-heavy town in the country, art galleries nearly outnumber 7-Elevens, no mean feat in an of itself. But then I pondered this for a minute – although that’s true, most of these galleries are simply selling copies of well known art. Van Gogh’s Starry Night, or the Mona Lisa or knock-offs of Dali and Picasso, and that creepy-eyed chick from the National Geographic cover.

“The government here isn’t really interested in promoting art, at least not when you compare it to other endeavors,” he says, “which is a real shame.” He explains how modern, well-run art galleries can generate huge amounts of income for their home countries. “I think they’re just starting to get around to opening a contemporary art gallery in Bangkok, but I don’t even know if it’s going to be on the train line so people can actually get out to see it.”

Actually, he’ll be happy to hear the good news. Construction commenced on The Bangkok Art & Culture Centre last December, after a planning stage that lasted a mere decade – a blink of an eye in Bangkok time. It should also come as good news that it will be located amid prime tourist real estate – right on the edge of Siam Square, across from MBK and Siam Discovery Center. Information is hard to find (whoever spends $8 to buy www.bacc.co.th first is declared winner), but a story in The Nation from last year said that “programmes will range from international exhibitions to performances of contemporary art and folk arts from around Thailand.”

We’re actually lucky the thing is getting built at all – when our beloved Prime Minister Samak was governor of Bangkok, he wanted to scrap the project altogether and turn it into a shopping mall, because that’s just what Bangkok needs more of. Thankfully opposition from the arts community was fierce and he backed down.

But despite being a bit crusty about the lack of opportunities for artists, Kirkland-Roath can also see the other side of the coin. “I’m not at all talking down to the artists who work at the tourist galleries,” he says quickly, explaining his stance. “Most of them are extremely talented and create amazing work, but they’re a bit trapped, I think, because they also have families and debts to pay, which I completely understand.” He explains that if Thailand had the ‘creative infrastructure’ in place for these guys to set out on their own, the Thai art market would flourish. Hopefully, the new Art Centre will provide some opportunities for just that.

But if one looks, support can be found in the unlikeliest of places. Kirkland-Roath met a fellow art lover in the GM of the new Pattaya Sheraton, who quickly agreed to donate a sizeable portion of the hotel’s wall space for the work of artists associated with Gallery Opium, as well as help by hosting gallery shows on its swanky private beach. Not only has feedback from the hotel guests been positive, but it’s generated a lot of interest in the gallery and its artists.

And that’s the great thing about the art scene in Pattaya – the town has been known for one thing for so long that new industries are ready to explode. The good thing about art is that it’s such an abstract concept – one person’s velvet Elvis is another person’s Michelangelo, and there’s limitless room for growth.

Kirkland-Roath ponders on a definition of what art means to all people, which is like getting everyone to agree on religion, abortion and politics. “Renoir said ‘All I do is paint pretty pictures.’ A lot of art doesn’t have to have a message; it can just be a pretty picture and nothing more. All it has to do is make someone go ‘Wow, that’s great, someone made that’ and it’s succeeded in its purpose.”

With that, he takes a few phone calls from clients, customers and friends, and gets back to work on a pastel watercolor of a woman in a wide sunhat - making Pattaya prettier one picture at a time.

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