The Time Out Love Bangkok Awards 2016 : Art Galleries

This modern, minimalist yet functional space projects artwork in various forms including installation art, illustrations, sculptures, paintings, live performances and films. After viewing the featured exhibition, drop by the cafe situated in the left wing of the gallery.

Spiral up the Guggenheim-esque atrium of the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre where the top three of the building's 11 storeys are exhibition halls. Beyond painting and sculpture, you'll see video, conceptual photography, installation and performance - sometimes all at once, in the case of a show by Navin Ravanchaikul. Rotating BACC curators like Luckana Kunavichayanont and Apinan Poshyananda mix up categories even further by showing cutting-edge work alongside traditional Thai, Western academic, modernist and foreign shows.

Rented out as a venue for shows and exhibitions, Cho Why stands at one end of the Soi Nana stretch in Chinatown. The name is cheeky and ironic reference to the homonym cho huay, which means “bad show” in Thai.

The five-storey Museum of Contemporary Art features up to 800 masterpieces from paintings to sculptures by over 200 Thai and foreign artists. The 20000-square-metre art space showcases contemporary exhibitions on the ground floor and permanent exhibitions from second to fifth floor. Included in the highlights are the paintings of the renowned Thai actress Bongkoj Tak Khongmalai by the MOCA founderBoonchai Bencharongkul and the father of Thai modern art Silpa Bhirasri’s sculpture.

Numthong Tang champions artistic individuality at this gallery with a magnificent roster of works by modern masters like Natee Utarit, Niti Wuttuya, Chatchai Puipia, Kamin Lertchaiprasert and Montien Boonma.    

Established in 1977 in the neo-classical former Royal Mint, this institution has occasional impressive shows, but its small collection hasn't kept pace with the boom in Thai art. It includes work by Impressionist painter Fua Haripitak, sculptor Misiem Yipintsoi, portraitist Chamrus Khietkong and watercolourist Sawasdi Tantisuk.

Dedicated to Queen Sirikit, this major multi-floor space offers world-class exhibitions by leading and young-blood Thai artists. Selections by top-line alumni from owner Bangkok Bank's prestigious art prize are often on show. The café's gift shop has a rare stock of monographs and retrospective tomes, although catalogues soon sell out.    

Visiting Thai palaces, we enjoy the beauty of arts and new knowledge, and Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles offers us the beauty of Thai textiles and lets us experience Thai wisdom which is the root of Thai creativity.

This long-standing gallery was founded in 1996 by Withit Leenutaphong, president of a giant car dealer Thaiyarnyon Group, who aims to help promote contemporary art from Thai and international artists. Withit transformed an old automobile showroom into a non-commercial art gallery to provide room for conceptual artworks in different media. Tadu is more than just a gallery, it has become a creative space that welcomes all forms of art, from live music performanaces to workshops to theater shows.  

Following the concept of its sisters in Hong Kong and Beijing, Tang Contemporary Art in Bangkok mainly focuses on art pieces from Chinese and Southeast Asian artists. The 19-year-old contemporary art gallery has recently moved to its new home: on the third floor of the Golden Place Plaza mall (formerly Peninsula Plaza).  

One of the world's best design centres, the Thailand Creative & Design Centre (more often, TCDC) inspires Thais with global design and showcases Thai creativity through superb exhibitions and talks. Accessed via this mall's cinema lobby, its stylish environs include a shop, an auditorium, Bharani restaurant, a massive library and the Material ConneXion resource archive.    

Thailand's oldest and most venerable fine art university, Silpakorn contains a small museum and a courtyard sculpture dedicated to its founder (Silpa Bhirasri, aka Corrado Feroci, an Italian who was commissioned in the 1920s to sculpt such landmarks as the Rama I statue and the Democracy Monument). Hosting exhibitions by students, masters and foreign artists-in-residence, the serene Silpakorn Art Centre Gallery was part of Tha Phra Palace. The faculties of architecture, decorative arts, and painting, sculpture and graphic arts all have galleries.    

The name ‘Speedy Grandma’ came from a local myth in Songkhla. Located in the old town, this is a gallery that will take you down memory lane.  

Toot yung means “mosquito” in Thai, but you won’t see much of them at this spacious art gallery which also houses a souvenirs shop and an outdoor bar.

Nestled in the quiet street of Sukhumvit soi 51, WTF Bar & Gallery took over a old shophouse and turned it into an laidback and convivial bar just like what you’d find in a random street in Paris or Brooklyn. The space is tiny and is usually crowded every night. Forget trying to snag a seat and just hang around the bar. Grab a bottle of Singha or ask for one of the cocktails of the day (check the board above). A playlist of indie-pop and world music tracks is courtesy of next-door vinyl shop Zudrangma records. The second and third floor serves as gallery space.

DJs and drinks make this gallery extra special. The two-story hall is plastered with arts and artistic paraphernalia, even in the toilet. Be careful while trying to traverse this bar – the mojito is strong and the stairs are steep.