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“Nobody captures Bangkok’s dark side as vividly as
Chris Coles does. The shocking
degeneracy of the Bangkok night is visualized in these paintings in all its
sordid, grotesque splendor, with uncommon sensibility for the complex humanity
of its fiendish protagonists. In Chris Coles’ Bangkok, all sinners are saints.” – Federico
Ferrara, author of THAILAND UNHINGED and
the KHI KWAI blog.
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"I highly recommend this to all of my friends. The artist exactly captures the sense of Patpong, Bangkok's red light district, and the sense of the current regime and society. Very striking" - Christine Gray, author of "THAILAND - THE SETERIOLOGICAL STATE".
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“Bangkok’s ‘seething underbelly’ has been desensitized
to the point that photographic reportage now feels clichéd, even banal. As an
artist-witness, Coles recaptures the profane crux of that milieu. Through lurid palette and contorted portrait,
he renders palpable the corruption, hypocrisy and denial. Such human drives can elude the camera, but
not the cariacture’s ability to nail an archetype. Coles is a neon-era Gilray” – Philip
Cornwel-Smith, Editor, author of VERY
THAI: EVERYDAY POPULAR CULTURE.
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“Chris Coles shows the other side of ‘Thainess’, the
one that’s not so rosy and pretty as the government would like to portray but
certainly reflective of the reality….but he also shows that what appears at
first glance to be ugly and dark can also be beautiful….” – Suranand
Vejjajiva, Bangkok Post columnist & TV/Radio Show host.
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“Chris Coles creates a noir world with surrealistic
beings, splashed with bright colors and drenched in atmosphere. He is one of the first artists to explore the
scenes from the Bangkok night. His portraits look behind the mask of those in
the scene. They are powerful and
haunting images” - Christopher G. Moore, author of the VINCENT CALVINO P.I. SERIES of novels
set in Bangkok & SE Asia.
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“Bangkok-based expressionist painter Chris Coles
drills deep into the psyche of the fiery Thai underworld” – Tom Plate,
author GIANTS OF ASIA series &
international columnist writing on modern Asia.
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“Chris Coles remarkable paintings from the Bangkok
night give equal billing to both predator and prey” – Liam
Ayudhkij, owner Liam’s Gallery & Thailand’s largest collection of
modern art.
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“Chris Coles beat is the Expat neon triangle, Soi
Cowboy, Nana Plaza and Patpong, where the wildlife gathers at the waterholes in
the cool of the night” – Paul Dorsey, author of the DALI HOUSE blog.
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“Chris Coles is a Bangkok-based artist who filters the
completely surrealistic scene of the Bangkok night thru German Expressionist
eyes. He gets it right. Bangkok, the
city that never sleeps, is in line with his wild imagination and the character
sitting on the barstool next to you in Nana Plaza looks just like one of his
portraits” – Carl Parkes, author of MOON
HANDBOOKS for THAILAND, BANGKOK, SINGAPORE, PHILIPPINES & SE ASIA, NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER: THAILAND & the FRISKODUDE
blog.
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"Chris Coles' daring reflections on Bangkok's
underbelly defy the usual limited and banal representations of tourist brochure
Thailand. He captures the moody degeneration and vaudevillian gaucheness of
Thailand's very own "City of Angels" utilizing color and shadow to
devastating and fearless effect. Forget the Thai Smile - the Bangkok Noir is
where it's at." – Andrew Spooner, journalist & author
FOOTPRINT THAILAND HANDBOOK, FOOTPRINT
CAMBODIA HANDBOOK
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“Sexy and intriguing…..” – T.E.D. Klein,
GQ Magazine.
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"Whether you are a novelist or a painter, you make art by
getting beneath the surface of something and illuminating its truth. Bangkok is
not what the tourist authority tell you it is. It is what Chris Coles tells you
it is. That's really all you need to know about the place." --
Jake Needham, author of THE BIG MANGO and four
other novels of contemporary Asia.
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“Chris Coles’ Bangkok Night body of work expresses the
raw power of humanity with both skill, concept and style of work. Influenced by German Expressionism, the paintings
are the essence of pure emotion” – Angela Di Bello, Editor in Chief, ArtisSpectrum Magazine.
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“I like Chris Coles’ Bangkok paintings very much. The starkness, the bold lines and vivid
colors evoke the strange appeal and tragedy of the nightlife, and its plain
weirdness” – Nick Nostitz, author & photographer RED VS. YELLOW: THAILAND’S CRISIS OF IDENTITY and PATPONG: BANGKOK’S TWILIGHT ZONE
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“Thailand’s pulsing capital hasn’t been depicted with
this much flair and vivacity since the 1980’s musical CHESS. Coles’ paintings are a neon depiction of
Bangkok’s notorious nightlife where ‘the bars are temples but the pearls ain’t
free’” – TIME OUT SINGAPORE
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“Chris Coles paintings and artwork is very striking I guess I would say. They remind me of Zappa lyrics...'gross and perverted, obsessed and deranged'. His colors are so primitive and their throbbing clash on your eyes and senses ooze a sense of darkness, of evil even. Yet, they are almost playful at times and amusing as well. His work reminds me of what I expect to see when I am fairly obliterated and moving aside the thick velvet curtain of the umpteenth 'next' gogo bar, the one I know I should not go in, but enter I do. You know, the bar with the katoey mamasan with the garish make-up that glows under the black lights that scares the bejesus out of you as his/her face looms in your drunken blurry field of vision. Coles captures the extra-dimensional feel of the Thailand nightlife. His work occupies another zone of existence. It's so ugly at times it is intriguing in a perverse way that makes one want to embrace it. If you know what I mean? Maybe not....” – ANONYMOUS BLOGGER
