Parinot Kunakornwong

I met Parinot Kunakornwong more than a decade ago, when he was playing bass guitar in his band Cuckoo. I later discovered that he was also a multimedia artist, working across drawing, installation and various hybrid practices. His art often transforms found and site-responsive materials into sculptures, installations or drawings, exploring themes of identity, gender, memory and political structure.

When he invited me to his studio, I expected something smaller and more conventional. Instead, I found myself entering a vast, multi-storey space from another era. Near Pratunam, he had converted his family’s former garment factory into his living quarters, art storage, studio and installation site.

Parinot led me through the labyrinth-like building to a floor where he had set up The Masses, an ongoing series of sculptures developed from his Instagram practice of posting found objects daily. The installation felt surreal in this time-capsule-like space, where remnants of the factory, old phones, work tables and signage still remained.

Back on the ground floor, we sat for coffee at a large lazy Susan, one of those Chinese round tables made for shared meals. Just behind us, his mother’s office was still in operation, while nearby Parinot kept works from a recent residency in Tokyo. I took my final portrait there, in front of the spirit house, where we said goodbye before he lowered the storefront gate.