Lumpini Park, usually a predictable collage of joggers, tai chi lovers and semi-feral pigeons, has recently acquired a more curious spectacle. Scattered beneath the trees, artists are hunched over sketches, their concentration slicing through the humid air. From somewhere – everywhere – comes the low hum of cello and violin, threading through the scene like a half-forgotten dream. It feels accidental, cinematic almost, but it is neither. This is Plein Air Woodcut, a public experiment staged by WoodyWind (Waravut Kaewcharoen), a modern impressionist.
The public are invited to witness this slow magic on Saturday May 17, between 4pm and 6.30pm, by the lakeside near the playground of Lumpini Park – that small anarchic patch where children outnumber ducks two-to-one.
The set-up is deceptively simple. Instead of the traditional easel and oils, WoodyWind has exchanged canvas for blocks of wood, chisel in hand, capturing the park’s soft chaos in lines and grooves. It is, reportedly, the first time he has abandoned the more forgiving medium of painting for the uncooperative grain of timber – and, crucially, he is doing it live, in front of strangers, water monitor lizards and children.
The plan is this:
- 4pm-5pm: Woodcut in action
- 5pm-6pm: Printing the pieces
- 6pm-6.30pm: Meet the artist, collect an original print (free, if you’re lucky to be the first 50)
Footpath Band will be playing from 5pm-6pm – a set of acoustic tunes to soften the edges of it all.
If nothing else, it promises a kind of slow, imperfect beauty – the sort increasingly hard to come by in a city that moves faster than anyone cares to admit.