Lily Grainger

My inspiration was ‘The pleasure of being, crying, dying and eating’ (1993) by Thai artist Montien Boonma. Immediately, I was captivated by his work, and the fragile details that add a great amount of depth and meaning to his constructions. I also admire Boonma’s individual use of materials not typically used. This can be exemplified when he incorporated eating utensils and bowls within his installation.

One reason why I chose to create art inspired by Montien Boonma’s installation, was because of how the composition explores life. I was captivated by the way it embodies the significance and balance of such a delicate subject. I was able to relate and explore Montien Boonma’s piece and found it particularly relevant, given that the world’s population recently reached 8 million.

The numbers 4 and 8 can be seen multiple times throughout my piece. I chose the number 4 because it is representative of death. The number 8 was included because of its similarity with the infinity symbol.

To generate this piece of art I used a wide range of techniques and employed numerous materials. Some of these included using a sponge to create texture and over time achieve a ‘layered’ effect. As well as this, when painting, I used quite a wide brush and swirly brush strokes. On other areas of the painting, I used rather saturated poster paint to make it appear faded and to create contrast. By using materials like texture paste I was able to achieve depth and draw attention more successfully. In order to create finer detail, I produced shapes with smaller and thinner brushes, this allowed me to be more precise, and added changes of shades. The colour palette was a huge contributor to the overall look of the painting and my main inspiration was taken from the installation ‘The pleasure of being, crying, dying and eating’ by Montien Boonma.

My painting is my interpretation of human existence and is reflective of what that means to me. What does ‘Life’ represent?