14 January 2020

Acrylic paint on canvas

Every moment is a miracle, everything that happens is a miracle; we are just not empty enough to be aware of this. On January 10, 2020, I paid a visit to Mr. Tirawat and Aunty Bank in the morning to invite them to give an opening remark for the event set to take place the following
day. On January 11, 2020, Aunty Bank arrived at One Nimman, the venue of the Art Auction for Air, and coincidentally ran into Mr. Nipon at the entrance. The latter was actually there for lunch but happened to see a sign for an art auction so he decided to stop by. I invited both of them to register as bidders. Aunty Bank received number 54 while Mr. Nipon got 55. After that I showed them all the artworks to be auctioned, explaining to them the concept behind each and every piece. Mr. Nipon excused himself to have lunch before the event started.

Mr. Tirawat Sucharitkul gave an opening speech and invited Aunty Bank to share her experience with the smog of PM 2.5 air pollutants in Bangkok prior to her flight to Chiang Mai. She said she had a headache and thought she was getting sick. Later she realized that the symptoms were caused by a sharp increase in PM 2.5 concentration that morning. After that, the governor of Chiang Mai gave another remark, followed by an auction that proceeded accordingly until it ended at around 6 PM. Due to her generous bidding, I invited Aunty Bank back on stage to draw from the tickets that everyone who registered for the event received.

She drew ticket number 55, and the prize was one of my printed works. She was so happy learning that it was Mr. Nipon's number and asked me to let him have it despite his absence at the event. All of us agreed to her request, so she quickly called Mr. Nipon to drop the good news that he was the lucky person who would receive my printed artwork as a special prize. Mr. Nipon asked if he needed to help with or do anything, to which Aunty Bank responded by teasingly telling him to donate 5 million baht in return. To my surprise, Mr. Nipon simply agreed, which he meant as a joke between two intimate friends. This, however, led to a misunderstanding between Aunty Bank and I (I must hereby apologize to Mr. Nipon for causing a misunderstanding in the total amount of his donation).
I was standing there, so Aunty Bank handed me the phone for us to talk. Mr. Nipon asked if the prize was the one entitled Miracle and I told him no, that it was another piece of printed work. After that, I told Aunty Bank that perhaps Mr. Nipon thought it was the huge painting called Miracle, which she had auctioned off. In reply, Aunty Bank answered by saying that if Mr. Nipon wanted that specific piece, she would be willing to give it to him. I was touched by her loving-compassion towards society.

The auction generated 4,786,000 baht, plus another 214,000 baht from Mrs. Jueay, thus totaling 5 million baht, not 10 million baht as I misunderstood on the day of the event. But even so, all of us who were behind this auction, be it artists or bidders, shared the same feeling that everything that took place on that day was a sheer miracle.

1,000,000 THB + 7% VAT