Artist

Selected Biography
Selected Bibliography

1953 Born February 25 in Bangkok; second child of six.

1971-73 Studied at Poh Chang Arts and Crafts School, Bangkok; studied with Chart Korbkitti, Suthat Pinruethai.

1974-78 Studied painting at , Silpakorn University, Bangkok; studied in the same year with Chancham Mukdaprakorn, Chalermchai Kositpipat, Suchart Thaothong, and Tanee Klinkajorn.

1976-78 Received King Bhumibol Aduladej Scholarship, Silpakorn University, Bangkok.

1977, 1980, 1983 National Exhibition of Art, National Art Gallery, Bangkok

1978 B.F.A. (Painting), Silpakorn University, Bangkok.

1979-80 Art assistant at the Art Gallery, Silpakorn University, Bangkok.

1981-86 Art instructor in Visual Arts at Chang-Silp College of Fine Arts, Bangkok.

1982 Culture in Danger: Montien Boonma, Vichoke Mukdamanee, Pichit Tangcharoen, British Council Gallery, Bangkok. Co-founder of the White Group, Bangkok. White Group Exhibition, Bhirasri Institute of Modern Art, Bangkok.

1984 Award for environmental art (A Changing World) from the Society of Education in Environment of Thailand, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Award in Contemporary Art Exhibition 1984, Thai Farmers Bank, Bangkok. National Exhibition of Art, National Art Gallery, Bangkok. White Group Exhibitions, Bhirasri Institute of Modern Art, Bangkok. Paper Work, Silpakorn University Art Gallery, Bangkok. 3rd Exhibition of ASEAN Painting and Photography, Manila, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok.

1985 Received Thai Government Scholarship to study sculpture in Italy.

1986 Became a monk at Cholaprathanrangsit Temple, Nonthaburi, Thailand. Married Chancham Mukdaprakorn in Bangkok. Studied in Rome; moved to France.

1986-88 Studied sculpture in Ecole Nationale SupÈrieure des Beaux Arts, Paris (with Claude Viseux).

1986-89 Maîtrise Nationale en Arts Plastiques, Université de Paris VIII, Faculté de l’Arts Plastiques, Saint Denis, France (studied conceptual photography with Jean Louis Boissier).

1987 42eme Salon de Mai, Grand Palais, Paris.

1988 Olympiad of Art, Olympic Park, Seoul. 43eme Salon de Mai, Grand Palais, Paris.

1988-95 Art instructor in Mixed Media and Sculpture, Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiangmai University, Thailand.

1989 Son born to Chancham and Montien Boonma. Story from the Farm (solo exhibition) National Gallery of Art, Bangkok. Les Peintres Thailandais Traditionals et Contemporains, LíEspace Pierre Cardin, Paris.

1990 THAIAHT (Thai-Thai) (solo exhibition) National Gallery of Art, Bangkok. M.F.A., Silpakorn University, Bangkok. Asia Contemporary Watercolour Exhibition, City Hall, Hong Kong.
Von der Natur in der Kunst, Wiener Festwechen, Messepalast, Vienna.
Readymade Boomerang: Certain Relations in 20th Century Art: 8th Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.

1991 Chancham Boonma diagnosed with breast cancer. Montien Boonma: The Pagoda and Cosmos Drawn with Earth (solo exhibitions), Japan Foundation ASEAN Cultural Center Gallery, Tokyo, and Mitsubishi-Jisho Atrium, Fukuoka. AUM (solo exhibition), Visual Dhamma Gallery, Bangkok. The Integrative Art of Modern Thailand, Lowie Museum, University of California, Berkeley. Arte Amazonas, Museum de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro.

1992 Arte Amazonas (solo exhibition), Goethe Institut, Bangkok. Artist in Residence Program at Atelierhaus Worpswede, Germany. New Art from Southeast Asia, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka. A Decade of White Group: Individual Project 1992, Silom Art Space Gallery, Bangkok.

1993 Works 1991-1993 (solo exhibition), National Gallery of Art, Bangkok. Prospect 93 International Exhibition of Actual Art, Frankfurter Kunstverein and Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt. First Asia-Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

1993-4 Thai-Australia Cultural Space, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery, Bangkok; and Chiang Mai Inn Plaza, Chiang Mai, Thailand. INBETWEEN, Nationaler Internationalisms oder Internationaler Nationalisms, Venice Biennale, Venice.

1994 April 18, death of Chancham Boonma. Marks of Mind (solo exhibition), Silom Art Space, Bangkok. Adelaide Installations: Beyond the Material World, Adelaide Festival, Adelaide. Asian Art Now: Creativity in Asian Art Now, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima. Faret Tachikawa Art Project, Tachikawa Prefecture, Tokyo. 5th Bienal of Havana: Arte, Sociedad, Reflexion, Havana.

1995 Art and Environment III, National Gallery, Bangkok. Montien Boonma and Thaiwijit Puangkasemsomboon, Bangkok University, Bangkok. 4th International Istanbul Biennale: The Vision of Art in a Paradoxical World, Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, Istanbul. Asian Modernism, Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo (traveling exhibition to Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta). 4th NICAF Yokohama Art Project í95, Pacifico, Yokohama. Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner Grant, New York. Container 96: Art Across Oceans, Copenhagen. Islands: Contemporary Installation Art from America, Asia, Europe and Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Modernity and Beyond, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.

1996-97 Art instructor in Intermedia, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Arokhayasala (solo exhibitions) Visual Dhamma Gallery and Bangkok Playhouse, Bangkok. Into the Next Decade, Tadu Contemporary Asian Cultural Council Residency Program, New York.

1996-98 Contemporary Art in Asia: Traditions/Tensions, Asia Society, New York.

1997-2000 Art instructor, Faculty of Painting, Sculpture & Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University, Bangkok.

1997 Montien Boonma: Arokhayasala Installasjoner (solo exhibition), tenersenmuseum, Oslo. Montien Boonma (solo exhibition), Art Front Gallery, Tokyo. Montien Boonma (solo exhibition), Beurdeley & Cie, Paris. Trade Routes: History and Geography: 2nd Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg. Die Andern Modernen: Zeitgenossische Kunst Aus Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika, Haus der Kulturen dem Welt, Berlin. New Generation of Asian Art, Yanago City Museum of Art, Ehime Prefectural Museum of Art, Miyakonojo City Museum of Art, Japan. Glimpses Into the Future, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima. Collapsed and lost conscious at the train station in Kyoto. Being Minorities, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong.

1998 Montien Boonma: House of Hope (solo exhibition), Deitch Projects, New York. The Edge of Awareness: Art for the World (WHO 50th Anniversary), WHO Headquarters Building, Geneva, Switzerland (traveling exhibition to New York, Sao Paulo, New Delhi). Art and the Environment: From an Ecological Point of View, The National Museum of Art, Osaka. Global Vision: New Art from the 90ís Part II, Deste Foundation, Athens. Art Exchange between Thai and Vietnamese Artists, Fine Art Museum, Ho Chi Minh and School of Fine Art, Hanoi. Collapsed and lost consciousness at Bangkok University, and again in Sao Paulo.

1999 First Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka. Das Haus de Sternzeichen (solo exhibition), Academie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany. 26 March, collapsed and fainted in front of his son on the street in Stuttgart.
28 March, returned to Bangkok and admitted to Siriraj Hospital; diagnosed with a brain tumor. Singapore Expo, Singapore. Trace: 1st Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool. Arts dans la Ville, St Etienne, France. Our Expression: Zero: Montien + Hitori, The Gallery of Art and Design, Faculty of Decorative Arts, Silpakorn University, Bangkok. Invitation from the Asia Society for a traveling solo exhibition to open in New York in 2003.

2000 Glocal Scents of Thailand, Edsvik konst och Kultur, Sollentuna, Sweden. Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai. 12 ASEAN Artists, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur. The Quiet in the Land: Everyday Life, Contemporary Art and Projeto Axe, Museu de Arte Moderna de Bahia, Bahia, Brazil. Euro-Visions Contemporary Art Exhibition, The Art Gallery of Silpakorn University, Bangkok. Diagnosed with lung cancer.

2000 August 17, died at Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok. August 24, cremated at Cholaprathanrangsit Temple, Nonthaburi, Thailand. August 25, Montien Boonmaís ashes released on the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok.

Memorial Exhibition for Montien Boonma, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka.

2001 Face to Faith, Goldsmiths College, London.

2002 Art, Religion, Faith and Vision, Art Center, Center of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. APT 2002: Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

2003 Montien Boonma: Temple of the Mind (traveling solo exhibition), Asia Society, New York.

2004 Montien Boonma: Death Before Dying (retrospective), The National Gallery of Art, Bangkok.