Thep Thavonsouk

Alberta

	Saffron Robes XV 35"x35" oil on canvas sold
Saffron Robes VIII 35"x35" oil on canvas $9500	June Rain ink and watercolour on rice paper
First Light 60"x45" oil on canvas $22,500	Saffron Robes XVI 34"x45" oil on canvas sold
Light and Shadows, Okanagan Suite 45"x60" oil on canvas $22,500

Biography

Thep Thavonsouk was born in Vientiane, in French occupied Laos. He was educated in French at the Lycee de Vientiane and was exposed to French painting, literature and classical music at a very young age. Thep obtained the Baccalaureate from the Lycee in Vientiane and then looked across the Pacific for higher education. He left Laos in 1967 when he was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship for St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. He earned a degree in Diplomacy with a minor in Art. Following his graduation and armed with eight languages, Thep aspired to become a diplomat for Laos and to work with the United Nations. He returned to Laos, but in 1972, three years before the end of the Vietnam war, Thep emigrated to Canada. He settled in Lethbridge, Alberta, teaching French at the University as well as English as a Second Language to new Canadians. During these experiences there was still something missing from Thep's life - what he really wanted to do was paint.

In the late 70's, Thep returned to Asia, first to Taiwan, where he studied under well-known Chinese masters, and then to Japan where he immersed himself in the culture, studied the language and Kiri-e (paper cutting) and woodblock printing. In 1983 he moved to Hawaii, and began an intense exploration of ideas and materials, developing his own artistic style. Oil and canvas; watercolours and rice paper; East and West; Yin and Yang; Realism and Impressionism.

Thep's style is uniquely his own. It is a play of light and air, space and time. There is a true awareness of the culture to which he was born, blended with that to which he has adopted and come to love. Thep's heart and soul are now in Canada, but it is to Laos that he turns to for inspiration: the forests, the people, the temples and monks who were so much a part of his childhood. He often chooses to portray the monks as seen from the eyes of a child, the upper part of their bodies cut off, so we are left with the sense of gentleness and solemnity of their movements. His paintings reveal a sense of peace and timelessness in an utterly contemporary style.