Golden Song with a Crimson Hand (2024)

‘Golden Song with a Crimson Hand’ by artist Andew Chaiphak is a captivating work that explores art and internal solitude within a bleak, surreal landscape. Against a contrast of a dark and unsettling blue sky and ochre rock formations, a golden, spherical being with long limbs lies playing a guitar (or ukulele). The appearance of this strange entity symbolizes the isolated self or pure creative spirit. Notably, a giant crimson hand rises eerily from the background, hinting at an impending threat, past trauma, or an external force hindering creative expression. With the addition of a horn-shaped loudspeaker and pale blue moonlight, the atmosphere becomes dreamlike. The work speaks to the power of art that blossoms even in darkness and solitude, and the sublime resistance of the individual who plays their own song despite external pressures (the crimson hand).