Expat in Bangkok: September 2013

London's Wellington Arch

Wellington Arch. London. September 25, 2013. I’ve passed the Wellington Arch for 55 years and didn’t know I could visit inside it. Until about 12 years ago it was closed to the public inasmuch as it was used as a small police station. When I read that it housed The Quadriga Gallery inside and that the gallery had a current exhibit about preserving post-WWII buildings of architectural note, entitled “Brutal & Beautiful: Saving the Twentieth Century,” I hastened there on an almost sunny, but warm, London fall day. The exhibit was extremely interesting and informative, and I spend quite a lot of time there. The two buildings discussed with which I was familiar, were the Royal Festival Hall and Coventry Cathedral. The permanent exhibit on the 2^nd floor about the history of the Wellington Arch was equally fascinating.

Click here for info on the architecture exhibit.

RAF Bomber Command Memorial

London. September 25, 2013. Quite by accident (I was on my way to an architecture exhibit nearby), I passed the new RAF Bomber Command Memorial located in Green Park, which was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth last year, a few months after my last trip to London ended. While classically pleasing, I found it singularly unimaginative, which is surprising given the number of renowned contemporary British architects. What I found shocking is that 55,573 United Kingdom, Commonwealth and allied airmen lost their lives during WWII. I knew the number was high, but I didn’t know it was this high. Certainly, they deserve a monument and to be remembered.

Jazz Great Chic Corea Comes to Bangkok

Thailand Cultural Center. Bangkok. September 20, 2013. I like jazz and have quite a few jazz CDs that I listen to, but it’s been

many decades since I’ve heard a jazz great live. This hiatus came to an exciting and happy ending with the appearance of Chic Corea and his new band, The Vigil. At age 72, Corea is going strong, both as a pioneering composer and keyboard performer. As a result of his fame, he can attract the very best musicians to play with him, which he has done with his new band of five, mostly young and highly talented performers. With two super-sets of one hour each, Corea and The Virgil electrified the large audience, which rose to its feet in a thunderous tribute when the final note sounded. It’s fair to say that everyone, including me, would have welcomed another two hours at least.

Galileo Chini: The Jewels of Decorations


The interior of the Thermae Berzieri in Salsomaggiore, Italy, is decorated with Galileo Chini's art, which is on display at the Siam Paragon.

Siam Paragon. Bangkok, Thailand. September 18, 2013. A lot of buildings are being constructed today, especially in the part of the world in which I live, but few of them are beautiful. The emphasis in architecture since about the 1920’s has been on form and functionality. Beauty has taken a back seat. Decoration is mostly non-existent having been replaced by glass and steel, ease of installation, control of buildings costs. Anything non-essential is an unaffordable frill, wasteful, and not part of the developers plans. Buyers and renters demand “affordability,” that is, something as cheap as possible, art, distinction and beauty be dammed.

A magnificent exhibit at the Siam Paragon reminded me that this was not always the case. In fact, a look at almost any building 75 years old or older, in any city of the world, is a reminder that there was a time when decoration and style were a normal part of the building process, and for that reason, tourists flock to the old parts of cities like Florence, Paris, London, Tokyo, Bangkok.

Galileo Chini (1873-1956), of whom I had never heard before this exhibit, was an Italian decorator, designer, painter, and potter, who, beginning around 1900, became famous, mostly for his ceramics. He was part of the Art Noveau movement, which, I think, would include Gaudi in Barcelona. Amazingly, Chini painted the fresco in the dome of Bangkok’s ornate and very beautiful Anata Samakhom Throne Hall. This exhibit, entitled “Galileo Chini: The Jewels of Decorations,” displays 26 of Chini’s ceramics as works of art, which indeed they are, but it is important to note that originally they were building blocks (construction materials) of a thermal spa in Salsomaggiore, Italy, where they comprised parts of the walls, stairs, cornices, facings, etc. In fact, the ceramics on display were only recently discovered in the basement of the spa, where they were stored 90 years ago to be used as back-up pieces.

There is a museum devoted to Galileo Chini near Florence, Italy. Now that I’ve been introduced to Chini’s stunningly beautiful art, I will be sure to visit it on my next trip to Italy.