Pira Ogawa: A Whisper of Imagination

Can you become an artist without going to art school? Well, you don’t have to go to art school to become an artist. Pira Ogawa, a 75-year-old self-taught artist, has been working everyday and some selected works are now featured in Around the Clock exhibition with River City Bangkok.  This is Ogawa’s second take on showing his wonderful works. Is he a professional or amateur artist?  We will let the viewers decide.  Pursuing his own passion is what really matters to Pira Ogawa.

His fondness for geometry in his childhood motivated him to use some typical stationery such as marker, mechanical pencil, and geometric ruler to create his art that is distinguished with myriads of structure. It is realistic work made from graphic lines and color. He said “It happened so naturally. My art is a depiction of what I see. I transform it into structure by starting to draw from somewhere as a center and then create geometrical forms. It is an improvisation.”

Art later became a miracle remedy when he started hearing a hissing sound of insects in his ears. Creating art made him calm and relieved from this symptom. “I wake up in the middle of the night and work until dawn. Then, I go to bed and get up in the afternoon.”

Deriving from this daily routine, the exhibition entitled Around the Clock presents two different themes: Daytime and Nighttime.

Daytime features wonderful creatures and scenery such as Nature, Insect in the Bush, and Queen among Roses. Nighttime presents ‘Black Star, The Warrior, The Tribe and the Bugs, and Queen Ant.

“Art needs to express or make viewers see what artist find beautiful. But something is deeper that might not meet the eyes. My art can depict color and morning light at 6 o’clock, 7 o’ clock and a specific point of time.” explained Pira.

His artworks are open for your imagination which might be different from him. By looking at it, some might think it is a lion’s head and others might see it as tide in the stream.

Pira said “It depends on viewer’s imagination. I just want them to see my works. While creating, I didn’t even know what imagination and my free hand would have taken me to.”

Around the Clock runs through 5 September in Rooms 249-250, 2nd floor of River City Bangkok.

Browse all artworks and further information here 

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