Art: Golden Wall Art in Laos
This is an incredible simple painting, and is one even a child could do. The contrast of the gold against the burgundy is striking and the texture of the paper underneath is due to it being handmade. One thing I adored about Laos were the intricate murals inside the many Buddhist temples. Entire stories were depicted inside temples through simple paintings of small gold figures on a dark background. The gold reflects the light, catching your eye and your attention. This painting is about 1 metre tall and survived the rest of my two months backpacking around South-East Asia wrapped up in a thin wicker tube.
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Isn’t the art striking? I recall seeing a little bookshop in Luang Prabang that offered a workshop on this traditional painting technique. I would’ve loved to have taken a class.
I now have my handmade paper scroll framed in our bedroom. Like yours, it survived several weeks riding around in a backpack, and it has the crumpled edges to prove it. 🙂
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Ooh I didn’t see the classes but I would have LOVED that. Next time! And were you given cylindrical cases made of straw ? I ended up having 4 or 5 of them full of tonnes of artwork by the end of my 4-month trip around Asia – althought the straw cases looked great I was never sure how much they’d protect the art in a squeeze!
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That sounds like an eco-friendly way to package the artwork, but I think mine was just placed into a traditional cardboard tube. I’m surprised the painting survived being crammed into airplanes, tuktuks, taxis and buses. 🙂
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>This is an incredible simple painting, and is one even a child could do.
The genius behind it is the process of deconstruction and simplification to make a seemingly impossible message becomes possible. Great observation! Like language, this artifacts speak volumes about their culture and their time. The preservation of this relic means the preciousness to their people.
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Where in Laos can we find this?
What’s the name of the art work?
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This is from Luang Prabang and I just bought it off the street, hope you manage to find something similar next time you’re there.
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