Inspiration from Gilded Black Lacquer Work: The Buddha’s Life during Bliss of Emancipation

Abstract

This creative research entitled “Inspiration from Gilded Black Lacquer Work: The Buddha’s Life during Bliss of Emancipation” was the study on Thai gilded black lacquer work, a unique high class Thai art representing Thai identity. Some of the materials nevertheless used to produce the work were so difficult to find and expensive that affected the creation of the gilded black lacquer work.  Moreover, the color appeared in the work was restricted to the color of the material which was the black color from lacquer varnish gained from the lacquer tree, and gold color from the gold leaf. Owing to this, the work was not produced in a variety of styles. This creative research aimed to study the body knowledge of the gilded black lacquer work in terms of techniques from the past to the present in the creation of the gilded black lacquer painting which focused on concepts, techniques, methods, and materials used with an aim to apply the knowledge gained to create a gilded black lacquer painting with a unique identity in the story of the Buddha’s life during the bliss of emancipation. It was the story of Buddhism that had spiritual value and was exploited to teach Buddhists to realize the happiness of exposing Dharma, the way of nirvana. It would make people in society live together in peace. It also could preserve the art of creative gilded black lacquer to remain with good things and the Thai nation forever. In this creative research, the data was collected from documents, museums, frescoes in temples, and the work of relevant artists and analyzed as a body of knowledge which was then used in the creation of gilded black lacquer paintings of two experimental sets. The results gained from the experiments were created in the form of summary work.

          The results of the research revealed that in the creation of gilded black lacquer paintings, some materials that were readily available and less expensive and could be used instead of one another were lacquer varnish or Yang Rak in Thai. In the past, flex or matte varnish could be used as a replacement for acrylic paint and was able to maintain the original color of the material surface. Metal powder, namely silver powder, science gold powder, and copper alloy powder could be used as a replacement for the gold leaf. The results of the study were used as information, combined with the researcher’s personal styles and notions to create the work of traditional Thai painting, the Story of the Buddha's Life during Bliss of Emancipation.  It was a combination of gilded black lacquer techniques and low-relief sculpture, using copper alloy sheet as a foundation, and coated with matt oil varnish. Regarding to acrylic paint,  the use of gold leaf, silver powder, science gold powder, copper alloy powder and acrylic paint were mixed together to create a new form of gilded black lacquer art. It was valuable and worth presenting the content of the story which made the gilded black lacquer art more interesting.