Sunti

Bigfork, Montana....
    One afternoon last week I walked into a downtown gallery and found this monk meditating over in the corner......except that this is not a monk, nor is he meditating.  Instead, he is a sculpture by Sunti Pichetchaiyakul, a wonderful artist from Thailand.....(but Sunti looks like a young and handsome Native American).

Sunti began sculpting when he was four years old.  Clay and wax is like an extension of his body.  This sculpture is one of many monks he has completed, each sculpture greatly revered in his home country.  It is made out of fiberglass and is accurate down to finger and toenails....and individual hairs.  Under that robe is a complete body.

You can click on the photos for a larger view.

On his website HERE you can see other examples, his process and technique, as well as the lifesize bronzes of Native American chiefs.  His wife and business manager says he works constantly.  This one sculpture took him a year to complete.   Dedicated to his art at the highest level of quality, he not only does the sculpting but, unlike many other sculptors, he does the casting as well.  Once cast, he then paints it and adds each hair.

He was just completing a full size standing piece of Gerald Ford to be displayed in Michigan, done with the permission of Betty Ford.

He must be a patient man because he spent 15 minutes of his day helping me pronounce his name.....JUST his first name....the last one I wasn't even going to try.