Saturday, November 09, 2013

Contemporary Lao Art: Anoulom Souvandouane


Steven Jay Epstein enlisted Anoulom Souvandouane to provide illustrations for several of his Lao folktale collections. Born in 1948 in Savannakhet, his work includes postage stamps and the Lao 1,000 kip note. Souvandouane made a great deal of his art on Phongkheng Road in Vientiane.

His well-regarded work appears widely in Laos but there are few who can imitate his compositions and style. He is one of the artists featured at the famed Mask Gallery in Vientiane. his range has included silk painting and watercolors, and can be found on postcards, books and posters. Unfortunately it is often very difficult to find much outside of Laos about his art.

From what we do know, his core art training came from his studies at the National School of Fine Arts in Vientiane between 1963-1968.  Afterwards, he went to work for a year as an illustrator with the Asia Foundation from 1968-1969.

He then continued further studies at the Phochang Private Art School in Bangkok for approximately 3 years (1969-1971). He returned to Vientiane to work as a designer from 1971-1973, but also as a newspaper cartoonist from 1973-1979 and as a graphic designer for a bank from 1976-1993. Afterwards, he owned an art studio from 1994 until at least 2000.

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