Shopping for Art in Phuket
Phuket art and handicraft galleries with local, regional and Asian art treasures are sprinkled all over the island from Bangtao to Surin in the north to Patong, Phuket City and further south to Rawai. Driving around some areas of Phuket, such as Patong, you soon realise that the art in Phuket is a popular pre-occupation.
Patong
Famous for its nightlife and post-tsunami media coverage, is also a centre of growing interest for art shopping in Phuket with many talented artists creating originals and reproductions of famous paintings. Boutique art gallery World of Paintings showcases stunning traditional, contemporary, and mixed media works by talented and well-known artists in a sophisticated art space located at Phuket Grand Tropicana Hotel in Patong.
Other Patong stores worth a visit are Rosewood Lamps (tel. +66 (0)76 344 376) for handicrafts and textiles; New Collection (tel. +66 (0) 76 344 786), an exhibition of Kashmiri and Oriental carpets, and other fine north Indian and Thai arts; and Tung Thong Antiques (tel. +66 0 76 344 663), near Patong Beach Hotel, which offers rare ceramic relics from Cambodia, Burma, China and rural Thailand.
Bangtao – Surin
These areas have several upmarket art galleries mostly around the Laguna area in the village centre and at The Plaza – an upmarket shopping destination with fine art and crafts from around the region.
Chalong-Rawai-Nai Harn-Kata
The south of Phuket now hums with a boutique array of artisan outlets sprouting up by the day. Manee Sai Garden Art (on the right opposite Wat Chalong) is notable for outdoor/ indoor sandstone décor of fountains, murals, frescoes, water jars, candle holders and lamps. Designs include Thai, Khmer, Balinese and contemporary (tel. +66 (0)1 487 4139).
Antipodes, a woodcarving showroom on the left descending the hill to Rawai, is run by a charming Burmese Shan family who hand carve all the timber furniture and sculptures, which are left to cure for three years before applying the finishing touches (Tel. +66 (0)1 607 8411). Rawai also offers a few funky shell accessory stores for that seventies’ beach shack look.
Nai Harn beach district is blooming with new stores. Chokechai Interiors Casa has some interesting showpiece Thai and regional arts (tel. +66 (0)4 837 4429). Several other small galleries have sprouted up in the Nai Harn area offering original and reproduced arts. The Nai Harn –Kata road is home to several original galleries, such as Mantra Art, on the left hand-side is a must — but by appointment only. The artist-in-residence creates stunning collector art of Asia-influenced mixed media on canvas but is often in the USA exhibiting her works. Just down the road is Symbol of Life Gallery, an eclectic collection of nature and life art in a forest garden created by original oil and acrylic artist Niran Chanhom (Tel. +66 (0)1 289 6415).
Kata/ Karon
Kata and Karon beaches offers a few art reproduction galleries but two stand out from the crowd: Mom Tris’ Boathouse Gallery for textiles and exclusive decorative objects from around Thailand and Asia; and Earth to Art, a pottery and ceramic store opposite Dino park on the Kata/ Karon beach road.
Phuket City
For art Phuket City is a feast of galleries, antique and handicraft stores. A full day is required to journey through the historic Sino-Portuguese streets and alleys to discover the treasures on offer. Rinda Magical Art Studio is home to Jay-Da and Watcharin Rodnit — a magical couple who share their joy and love for life and nature with abstract oils and mixed media; view by appointment (27 Yaowarat Rd; Tel +66 (0)6 691 7839); Sarasil Art Gallery, original work by five Thai artists from rural scenes to surrealistic dreamworks (121 Phang Nga Rd; Tel +66 (0)1 083 2873); Phuket Fine Art Gallery, an exhibition for famous and unseen Thai and Asian works of mythology, legend and contemporary inspiration (185/30 Thepkasattri Rd..
Last, but not in the least worth mentioning is Khun Tawatchai, an awe-inspiring local Thai batik artist and art teacher whose voluptuous female goddess works are displayed on the softly lit and perfumed walls of the Perfection Beauty Boutique (behind Fashion Café on Chao Fa East Rd, between Phuket City and Chalong; Tel. +66 (0)1 979 8671).
Shopping for art in Phuket is full of hidden surprises and these are but a few.
