Return to the past at 'Nostalgia Surfer'

Jarb Mongkol worked as an illustrator for over a decade. He then decided to quit his job as an illustrator to give himself the freedom to create artwork.

It took him a year to create 12 paintings using airbrush techniques, which are currently showcased at his debut solo exhibition "Nostalgia Surfer" at Kich Gallery, Soi Ruamrudee 2 (Wireless Road).

"Nostalgia Surfer" is a fictional being created through the artist's interpretation of the concept of higher dimensions which exist beyond the fourth dimension, the dimension of time. This fictional being can move freely through the past and the future. Yet rather than travelling through time to alter what has happened, Jarb chooses to return to the past again and again, searching for feelings that once existed and have since disappeared.

His journey is therefore not an attempt to change the past, but an attempt to experience it once more. Jarb returns to the same places, listens to the same songs, looks at the same images, and revisits familiar atmospheres, wondering whether the feelings that once existed within those moments can return.

Artwork in 'Nostalgia Surfer'. .facebook.com/kichgallery

Sometimes he revisits the same moment repeatedly, yet each return reveals something slightly different. The memory of the same moment never feels entirely the same twice.

While the character travels backwards in time in search of a feeling from the past, the artist travels backwards to rediscover a way of working that had disappeared from their life. These two journeys unfold simultaneously, eventually converging through this body of work.

Ultimately, what "Nostalgia Surfer" is searching for may not be a particular moment in time, but the feeling that emerges when returning to that place once again -- even if only for a brief moment, and even if what is found is no longer exactly the same.

"Nostalgia Surfer" takes place at Kich Gallery, Soi Ruamrudee 2 (BTS Ploenchit exit 4) until Nov 14. Admission is free. For more information, visit facebook.com/kichgallery.

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