Suong Yangchareon was born in Thailand in 1952.
Suong Yangchareon has been living and working near Los Angeles for over thirty years. However, the California landscape was familiar to the artist long before he left his native Thailand. As a child, Yangchareon spent much of his time at his father’s movie theater where he became fascinated with the world of American Westerns. The nostalgia for this idyllic Americana can be garnered through his subject matter. Abandoned theaters, factories and businesses of an almost extinct era of architecture are carefully rendered in the soft morning light. Working from his own photography, shot during the early hours of the day,Yangchareon’s acrylic paintings are largely devoid of human figures, but deeply imbued with their past presence.
Recently, the artist has broadened his focus to include imagery of the city at night––rendering glistening rain-soaked sidewalks bathed in the artificial light of street lamps and movie marquees against an inky black sky. Yet, Yangchareon’s motivation remains the same; to find the hidden beauty in varying industrial landscapes and seeing splendor where most would argue it does not exist.
Reminiscent of Hopper, a sense of melancholy pervades his compositions in a quiet, detached manner. The influence of Diebenkorn and Thiebaud can also be detected in the artist’s sense of color and in his interpretation of light. As an art student in Bangkok, Suong felt out of place in an environment that sought inspiration mainly from the Italian Renaissance. Countering their emphasis of looking toward that period, Yangchareon was heavily drawn to these more contemporary artists' work, which played a large role in his relocation, and subsequently in the development of his distinctive painting style.
EDUCATION
1974 – 77 BS in Advertising, Woodbury University, Los Angeles, CA
1970 – 73 Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
1968 – 70 Fine Arts, Arts & Crafts College (Poh Chang), Bangkok, Thailand
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013-14 Suong Yangchareon: Places Out of Time, St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery, Rutherford, CA
2013 Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011 Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009 Recent Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 Recent Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Recent Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2005 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2003 New Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2002 Pratt Gallery, San Diego, CA
Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2000 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
Mendenhall Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Pratt Gallery, San Diego, CA
1999 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
Mendenhall Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Pratt Gallery, San Diego, CA
1998 Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
Mendenhall Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Pratt Gallery, San Diego, CA
1997 Mendenhall Gallery, Pasadena, CA.
Pratt Gallery, San Diego, CA
1996 Mendenhall Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Pratt Gallery, San Diego, CA
1995 The Changing Exhibition Hall, Thailand Cultural Center, Bangkok, Thailand (Exhibition Catalogue)
Mendenhall Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Pratt Gallery, San Diego, CA
1994 Pratt Gallery, San Diego, CA
John Thomas Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1993 Pratt Gallery, San Diego, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015 EXPO Chicago, Festival Pavilion, Navy Pier, Chicago IL
artMRKT San Francisco, Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA
2014 Art Miami, The Art Miami Pavilion, Wynwood Arts District, Miami, FL
Art Silicon Valley / San Francisco, County Event Center, San Mateo, CA
EXPO Chicago, Festival Pavilion, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
Kern Country from a Distance, Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, CA
artMRKT San Francisco, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
2013 Art Miami, The Art Miami Pavilion, Wynwood Arts District, Miami, FL
EXPO Chicago, Festival Pavilion, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
artMRKT San Francisco, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
2012 Art Miami, The Art Miami Pavilion, Wynwood Arts District, Miami, FL
EXPO Chicago, Festival Pavilion, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
artMRKT San Francisco, Concourse Exhibition Center, San Francisco, CA
Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, CA
LA Art Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA
2011 Texas Contemporary Art Fair, George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX
artMRKT San Francisco, Concourse Exhibition Center, San Francisco, CA
Art Chicago 2011, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL
2010 San Francisco Fall Antiques Show, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Fine Art Fair, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
Art Chicago 2010, Merchandise Mart, Chicago IL
2009 San Francisco Fall Antiques Show, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
2008 Twenty-Five Treasures, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Art Chicago 2008, Merchandise Mart, Chicago IL
L.A. Art Show, Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, CA
2007 Twenty-Five Treasures, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Tony Berlant and Suong Yangchareon, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
Art Chicago 2007, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL
L.A. Art Show, Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, CA
2006 Paintings of The New Landscape, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
Art Chicago 2006, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL
2005 San Francisco International Art Exposition, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
Art Chicago in the Park 2005, Butler Field, Chicago, IL
Twenty-Five Treasures, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 San Francisco International Art Exposition, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
Art Chicago 2004, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2003 Group Show: Landscapes, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco International Art Exposition, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
Art Chicago 2003, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2002 San Francisco International Art Exposition 2002, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
2002 Art Chicago 2002, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2001 San Francisco International Art Exposition 2001, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
Art Chicago 2001, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2000 Shifting Perceptions: Contemporary L.A. Visions, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA
California Reflections, Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, CA
1997 Contemporary Urban Landscape II, Long Beach Arts Gallery, Long Beach, CA
1996 Contemporary Urban Landscape, Long Beach Arts Gallery, Long Beach, CA
1994 Drawing '94: National Drawing Competition, Larsen Gallery, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Drawn West: Fourth Biennial Drawing Exhibition, Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State
University, Logan, UT
1993 Los Angeles Juried Exhibition, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1992 ANA 21: A National Juried Exhibition, The Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
1991 National Works on Paper, University Museum, The University of Mississippi, University, MS
New American Talent: The Seventh Exhibition, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX
1990 All California Open, Juried Exhibition, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
9th Annual September Competition, Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA
American Drawing Biennial II, Muscarelle Museum of Arts, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
24th Biennial Exhibition, National Juried Exhibition, Works on Paper, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN
Palomar College, San Marcos, CA
University of Delaware, Newark, DE
ARTICLES AND PUBLICATIONS
2008 Twenty-Five Treasures, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Fall (exhibition catalogue)
2007 Twenty-Five Treasures, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Fall (exhibition catalogue)
2006 Zyzzyva, Winter 2006, XXII, 3: Cover
2005 Twenty-Five Treasures, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Fall (exhibition catalogue)
2001 Bonnie Gangelhoff, Suong Yangchareon, Southwest Art, July
2000 Mark Ehrman, Requiem for the Onyx Café, Los Angeles Times Magazine, October
1998 Patt Morrison, The Court Painters: Three L.A. Artists Pay Homage to Their Adopted City,
Los Angeles Times Magazine, August
1995 Cityscapes: Paintings and Works on Paper, The Changing Exhibition Hall, Thailand Cultural Center,
Bangkok, Thailand (exhibition catalogue)
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