Natthapong Samakkaew is a visual artist. He was born in Krabi, Thailand and lives in Berlin, Germany. In 2018, he received his BA in Illustration at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle, Germany with the dissertation ‘Move your body’ in which he drew people in darkrooms in Berlin. His dissertation received the best experiment award at the university’s annual prize. His drawing practice focuses on visual representations of observation and experience. He has been a member of the un.thai.tled collective. He has exhibited his work at the National Art Center Tokyo, Hamburger Bahnhof, Projektraum 145, Artburst Berlin, BBK Leipzig e.V., Leipzig, Aquamediale 13 Art Festival and 48 Stunden Neukölln.
1/1 Exhibition: In The Dark
Back in 2018, I roamed around Berlin with friends and drew in many places. However, my first ever drawing project started when I made in Ficken 3000 — how interesting would it be if I drew people having sex in the darkroom? Later, I managed to sneak in there to draw on a postcard-sized paper, which I could easily hide whenever it looked too suspicious. This would later become part of my dissertation and receive the best experiment award at the university’s annual prize. In the following year, Darkroom was displayed in many exhibitions across Germany. Drawing in the dark led me to realize that I like to draw discreetly and spontaneously without looking at the paper. I use my eyes to observe as my hand draws with no regard to how the drawing will end up looking, as if I experiment with my own perception. In the following years, a global pandemic ensued. I turned to drawing people in cruising areas, such as parks and woods, instead. It allowed me to see the connections between people and nature, which led me to my newfound interest in drawing in different location.
