Asian Textile Art

Some paintings by Gauguin have always struck me, so much so that I identify them as the core of his art; mostly couples of young women portrayed close-up in that typical composition which the western figurative tradition defines as 'conversation'.

For the last few months I have had an Isan friend, a young friend. For many years he has lived in Bangkok, but he does not love it, and he constantly wishes to return to live in his village in the province of Kalasin.

When in front of Nim Kruasaeng's work, it has the effect of making me feel as if I am in an undefinable state for which, right now, I would use the term dispersion. By which I mean a dispersion of consciousness, of critical self-awareness.

The silk mat mi textiles of Isan are the most varied and exciting in motif and color arrangement in Thailand. Silk ikats were reserved for ceremonial use such as going to the temple, weddings and official occasions.

The technique used in Thai textiles is called mat mi, a very labor-intensive requiring great skill in the careful measuring of the yarns to the exact width of fabric to be woven and tying off areas of pattern which are to resist the dye.

Creating patterns on cloth by tie-dying is one of the oldest and most basic of the textile arts. Tie-dying has been used in many islands of the archipelago: Sumatra, Java, Bali, Sulawesi and parts of Kalimantan on a range of textiles

The geographic area called Isan is a plateau region in the northeast of Thailand bordered in the north and east by the Mekong River and the main decorative technique of traditional textiles in Isan was weft ikat which is call "mat mi".

The condition and quantity of Indian trade textiles found in Indonesia point to two facts. Indian cloths were not only used as articles of clothing, and that they were preserved very carefully through generations in relatively natural surroundings.

The Coromandel cloths were known by several names, Chintz, Kalamkari and Kling cloths, in the Indonesian language. The term chintz, derived from the Hindi cheent meaning a spray of drops was used equally for painted and printed cloths.

Some of the earliest and most valuable cloths were the Patola dye-resistant, double-ikat silk cloths from Patan Gujarat. At the helm of the textile trade, Gujarati merchants naturally exported that cloth which commanded the highest prices at home.