GONGKAN

Early Years

Born in 1989 in Bangkok, Thailand, Gongkan graduated from Kasetsart University Laboratory School in 2007 and later from the Faculty of Decorative Arts at Silpakorn University in 2011. He then moved to New York City, where he spent three years studying fine arts and working in advertising. During this period, he began creating street art and developing his signature ‘Teleport Art’ concept, gaining recognition in New York and Bangkok.

Style and themes

Gongkan’s works are characterised by surrealistic imagery, flat graphic paint application, and a muted colour palette, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. His work frequently includes a childlike figure, which the artist sees as a neutral, avatar-like figure for viewers to relate to. Notable pieces include Non-Traditional Recipe (2025), which features figures in a porcelain bowl, and Private Hot Springs, depicting individuals in a serene, otherworldly setting.

Surrealism

Surrealism is essential to Gongkan’s artistic language. His figures—often depicted mid-emergence or mid-disappearance through black portals—embody a dreamlike detachment from reality, suggesting psychological and emotional exploration via liminal states of consciousness.

Influenced by the surrealist tradition’s emphasis on the unconscious and irrational, Gongkan distils these themes into a refined, graphic, child-like aesthetic. This blend of surrealism with minimalistic imagery gives his work an immediate visual clarity, leaving space for open-ended interpretation.

‘Teleport Art’

Gongkan’s work frequently features portals through which figures and environments are fragmented and perforated. The motif can be seen in many forms and is commonly used in the artist’s paintings and sculptures. The idea of portals and teleportation presented itself to the artist while he was working in New York, and entertaining escapist fantasies, wishing to skip between his current residence and his home back in Thailand.

Alternatively, Gongkan’s portals are also presented as black voids or mirrors, which serve respective emotional, reflective, or symbolic purposes within his artworks.

Notable Exhibitions

Gongkan has held several solo exhibitions, including:​

• Asynchronous Affinities, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong (2025)​
• Total Eclipse of the Hearti, X Museum, Beijing (2024)
• No Heart Here, Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen; MOCA Bangkok (2024)
• Inner Place, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing (2022)
• The Tip of the Iceberg, Over the Influence, Los Angeles (2021)
• His work has also been featured in group exhibitions such as
• L’Empire des sens, Tang Contemporary Art, Seoul (2022)
• Private Collections of Duangrit Bunnag, The Jam Factory, Bangkok (2020)
• Pattern Art Festival, Taiwan Design Museum, Taipei (2019)

Gongkan’s work has also been collected by numerous public galleries such as MOCA Bangkok; X Museum, Beijing; and the Cans Foundation, Taipei.

Gongkan FAQs

Hazel Ellis | Ocula | 2025