Bangkok, Krung Thep - Feast of Beauty, Palace of Dreams
Artwork and text by Maura Moynihan
“I dream of painting, then I paint my dream.”
Vincent Van Gogh
In Bangkok, it is impossible not to paint; every wat is a treasure, every soi a spectacle, every night a dream, every day a miracle.
One Night in Bangkok, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon
The cosmological order of Thailand, the Kingdom of Siam, descends from ancient India, and throughout Thailand seeds of India are seen in language, astrology, ritual and art, fertilized in the rich soil of Thai magic and folklore, refined to perfection in the Ayutthayan Kingdom, 1351-1767. Bangkok has over 350 Buddhist temples, both Theravada and Mahayana. Every mall, bank, hotel and home have shrines to Phra Phrom, Lord Brahma, whose four heads offer specific blessings and are daily worshipped with flowers, incense, fruits and candle flames. The rites and symbols of Siamese kingship evolved from ancient India, Thai government buildings are adorned with red Garudas, the emblem of the Chakri Dynasty, an 800-year-old lineage established in the 12th century by the Kingdom of Sukhothai. Thailand’s King Bhumibol (1927-2016) born in Cambridge, US, when his father Prince Mahidol was the first Thai to earn a degree from Harvard Medical School, raised in Switzerland, where he studied science, law and Dixieland jazz, the late king brilliantly synthesized East and West, and 21st century Thailand is a melange of antiquity and modernity, fused by the delicate piquancy of Siamese culture.
Phra Narai and Nagini
The Ramakien
The Ramakien, Thailand’s Ramayana, the great Indian Epic, is believed to have magic properties, it is said that whoever reads the full text in 7 days and nights can summon rain and read the minds of men. It is also believed to grant protection to kings, and thereby the nation. Siamese kingship merged the Khmer worship of the Devaraja, an avatar of Vishnu, with the Buddhist bodhisattva, one who had “bun”, merit, acquired from perfection of morality in previous lives. Rama IV, King Rama 9’s grandfather who saved Siam from European colonialists in the 19th century is to this day widely venerated; his equestrian statures are believed to transmit his “barami” a Theravada Buddhist term for divine charisma. Thai popular songs about King Rama 9 extoll the power of his barami; he did possess an incandescent presence, uncommonly photogenic, a man who could play jazz and quote Buddhist scripture.
Phra Ram in search of Nang Sida
King Bhumibol Aduladej was Rama 9 of the Chakri dynasty, the symbolic personification of Ram, the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. In 1345, King Lithai of the Sukhothai Phra Ruang dynasty, wrote the Traibhumikatha, “the three worlds of existence”, based on the Vedic scriptures, wherein the cosmos is divided into three realms: arupa-loka, the formless realm; rupa-loka, the corporeal realm and kama-loka, the realm of sensation, where the worlds of the devas, mankind and the underworld coexist. The universal axis is Mount Meru, the abode of supreme deities, which rises from the forests of Himavanta — Himmapan in Thai — mystical habitat of the Naga, Kinaree, Singha and Garuda, the myriad creatures of Indian legend who populate the urban landscape of modern Thailand, on bank notes, official emblems and hotel logos.
Phra Ram and Phra Lak in the forest
Me in BKK
I loved racing through the city in a Bangkok taxi, listening to Lanna and Isan pop songs gazing at flowers, wats, chedis, tuk tuks, canals, gardens. By day I painted in wats and gardens, by night I painted in sois, pubs and beer gardens, inhaling the magical scent of a Bangkok night, a beguiling weave of incense, jasmine, coconut oil. I often dined in Bangkok’s the outdoor restaurants, filled with steaming woks where rice and noodles were spiced and stirred with vegetables and spices and condiments never seen or found in another land. And of course, I loved the ubiquitous, fantastically healing Thai massage available 24/7.
Sukhumvit Sunday self portrait
Everywhere are the spirit houses, San Phra Pum - San means shrine and Phra Phum means Spirit. It is believed that the San Phra Pum weave an invisible net of protection throughout the land, people cherish them, and share their news with them, they tell when somebody died, a baby was born, and drop off gifts to keep the spirits content.
A Soi in Silom
David Jacobson’s Smalls, my favorite Bangkok pub
A soi in Sathorn
Bangkok has more than 400 wats. I would go hunting for new wats every weekend, driving through Bangkok for hours in tuk tuks or with my friend and motorbike taxi driver, Samlor. In Bangkok the gods and legends of the Buddhist and Hindu and Chinese pantheon melt into the Ramakien, which is woven into the Life of Lord Buddha, both avatars of Lord Vishnu. Bangkok has both Hinayana and Mahayana temples, and the deities and legends of the Buddhist pantheon all exist in Bangkok. My favorite temples for painting are Wat Sutath, Wat Saket, Wat Hua Lamphong, Wat Po, and Wat Mangkol Kamalawat, the Dragon Lotus Temple in Yaowarat.
Kwan Yin Temple in Yaowarat
Wat Mangkol Kamalawat, the Dragon Lotus Temple
Phra Buddhasaiyas and a pagoda in Bangkok
Phra Mae Khongkha, Goddess of Water and Fortune at Wat Saket, Bangkok
Wats in Chiang Mai
Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai, monks in monsoon
Phra Phrom, Lord Brahma and San Phra Phum
The Mahabharata tells of how Brahma insulted Shiva, and so Shiva cursed Brahma that his worship would die in India and so it did. Brahma now dwells in Thailand. The Erawan Shrine, the holiest Brahma image in all of Bangkok. It was always swarmed with people lighting candles, ringing bells, chanting prayers. I always bought an offering basket from an old woman, laid garlands before each of Lord Brahma's Four Heads, pressed incense and candles into the sand altar box.
Phra In and Buddha Amida
King Rama 9th at Wat Hua Lamphong
My portrait of Thailand's King Rama 9th
In October 2017, I was honored to have an exhibition “King of Kings” at Cassia Gallery, in honor of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. In the Year of Mourning, for King Rama 9th, portraits of His Majesty filled Bangkok’s streets and skyline, every wat, school, and mall had shrines and remembrance books for the King, everyone wore white and black, and everywhere the Jazz King’s melodies floated through the air. There was no world leader I admired more than King Rama 9th. a true Dhammaraja, a genius, statesman, artist, a great and good man who was, as the Tibetans say, “as rare as a star in daylight.”
https://www.nationthailand.com/life/30328099
King Rama 9th and his people
King Bhumibol was a great inspiration to Thai artists, and I attended many art expositions about the King throughout Thailand and expressed my appreciation for this unique monarch by painting my own series of portraits, which allowed me to study the astounding range of his talents and interests in greater detail; truly, his was one of the most remarkable lives of our times. I worked with iconic photographs that for decades hung in wats, markets and homes throughout Rama 9’s 70-year reign as monarch, statesman, monk, soldier, musician, painter, photographer, inventor, sportsman, who possessed a regal bearing and common touch, and faithfully preserved the ancient rites of Siamese kingship.
Soldier, Statesman, Jazz King
King Rama 9th and Kinaree
In Thailand the King’s image was seen on every banknote and coin, in portraits large and small, wading into a ride paddy with a Nikon camera, inspecting farms and factories, listening to his people, playing a saxophone or piano. The Chakri Dynasty’s 19th century sovereigns, King Mongkut, and his son Chulalongkorn, were immortalized on stage by the “The King and I”. The skill and foresight of the Chakri kings is historic; Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia that was never colonized by a European power.
My 2nd musical album “Bangkok Taxi”
https://www.amazon.com/Bangkok-Taxi-Maura-Moynihan/dp/B003UHS0LG
Mae Nam Khong - The MEKONG RIVER
The Mekong in Luang Prabang
The Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, celebrating the city with my Thai Guru the great Joe Cummings, author of Sacred Tattoos of Thailand: Exploring the Magic, Masters and Mystery of Sak Yan
https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Tattoos-Thailand-Exploring-Hardcover/dp/B00ZVP90F0
Who Loves Bangkok more than Me?
