Vipoo Srivilasa is a masterful ceramic artist. For 30 years, he has been lovingly building clay figurines, delicately painted with the occasional gold flourish. More than individual works. Vipoo's objects form a series with a unique fanciful premise to enchant our world. These include How to Make a Million (2013), a twelve-step program to success, Everyday Shrines (2018) reflecting on success and failure and The Course of True Love (2019) which features vignettes that contributed to the acceptance of same-sex partnerships.
The first look is deceptive. Vipoo's works seem to reflect a particular Asian kind of cute-ness, epitomised by the Japanese concept of kawaii. But there's a serious dimension to this. Renowned fiction writer Alice Pung contextualises this within a Buddhist culture, whose depictions of serenity are devoid of individual personality.
Since the COVID pandemic, Vipoo has been creating works that draw on another dimension of Asian belief: amulets. His Wellness Deity (2021) series drew on crowd-sourced demands for the particular qualities needed to survive lockdown, such as Scriptoria who counters disinformation.
His latest series for N Smith Gallery addresses the challenges we face in everyday life. This time, Vipoo created a list of daily needs that he used as prompts for ChatGPT to produce their respective deities. Each of the eighteen spirits offers powers to help us through the day. Viritas, the Enhancer of Social Influence, will help you obtain more followers. Parcus, the Guide of Parking, helps us find the perfect spot and avoid tickets. And Pyroguard, the Fire Sentinel, protects us from fire, increases tolerance of spicy foods and increases our "hotness" in the eyes of others.
One can't help but attribute Vipoo's interest in atropeic objects to his Thai heritage.
Thai amulet culture is like no other. Lustrous amulets channel the power of deities like Phra Khun Phaen, who will increase the charm and magnetism of the owner. There are even competitions where the relative strength of amulets are tested.
But amulets cannot do this alone. In Thailand, they must be activated by prayer and treated with respect. In the same way, Vipoo invites gallery visitors to show their preferences for a deity to whom they make an offering in the form of a statement about the best things that happened to them today. The end of the show will reveal the deity with the most offerings. In addition, lucky owners of a deity are encouraged also to make a garland to adorn their deity.
Vipoo has won his way into our hearts. He has received many prestigious awards such as the recent 2023 Australian Design Centre Make Award and is collected by major Australian state galleries and international museums. It would be enough to make these beautiful unique effigies, but Vipoo imbues his projects with a laudable social sensibility. His not-for-profit foundation Ceramics for Charity has featured "Clay for.." campaigns to support bushfire, flood and earthquake victims in Australia, Thailand and Nepal, as well as Black Lives Matter.
Every Australian home should have at least one Vipoo deity to offer protection and good fortune. We are certainly lucky to have such a bountiful artist as Vipoo in our country.
