AN ART REVIVED

Sanan Rattana has brought back the rak see lacquer painting technique

- STORY: SUWITCHA CHAIYONG

Natural materials for creating pigment powder.

Rak see lacquer colour painting is a distinct art form found in Asia. It involves mixing pigment powder with clear lacquer sap to create colours resembling oil paint. Artists often add details to their art using black lacquer outlines, gold or silver leaves, and build up multiple overlapping layers. Once dry, the surface is polished to reveal the depth and texture of the layers.

Despite its cultural significance, access to these traditional materials and techniques is limited because certain materials need to be imported from abroad. Due to transportation fees, artists spend a lot of money on materials.

Sanan Rattana, a fellow of the Royal Society of Thailand’s Academy of Arts, has been interested in rak see because he once had an art teacher who had lived during the reign of King Rama V and knew about the technique. Sanan has visited Vietnam many times to further learn about rak see techniques.

According to Sanan, Thailand has no clear lacquer available. Thus, he had to import clear lacquer from Vietnam which costs an equivalent of about 700 to 800 baht for 10kg. However, with transportation fees the total cost rises to 18,000 baht.

"Rak see had been missing from Thailand for over 100 years. It disappeared during the reign of King Rama V when Thailand was trying to escape colonialism and had to adopt Western culture and art techniques. This caused the loss of traditional Thai art. The last person who knew original rak see techniques has already passed away," explained Sanan.