Chris Coles

My Sukhumvit Neighborhood Chris Coles

Bangkok is a huge Asian city, but it is also a city of neighborhoods, local neighborhoods with warm friendly ambiances. familiar people, lots of cafes, shops and other stuff. One of the world's great world cities in many ways. This book is an ode to my own little Bangkok neighborhood, located north of Sukhumvit between Asoke and Soi 39/Emporium, part of what is sometimes called the Upper Sukhumvit District. It's the neighborhood where I have my studio, in a low rise mixed residential and office/restaurant/bar building located at the nexus of Soi 31, Soi Prasarnmit and Soi 23. The studio is very simple, very low maintenance. Downstairs is where I work, where I have created thousands of paintings, mainly images inspired by the spectacle known as The Bangkok Night. Pencil sketches, India ink drawings, smallish watercolors and large acrylic on canvas. The images that I have created in the studio have ended up in various books as well as in shows not only in Bangkok but also Singapore, Phnom Penh, Los Angeles and New York. Upstairs is the sleeping loft, minimally furnished, a varnished wooden floor, a small plasma tv, some storage/closet space, an Asian-Style mattress directly on the floor. On the rear side of the building five floors up, the loft is very quiet and peaceful. No traffic noise, no shared walls with neighbors, a perfect place to relax, listen to music, sleep and also to think. The photographs in this book are not meant as "tourist photos", perfectly framed and lit or even, sometimes, in focus. They are "everyday photos" of the many everyday places that are part of my everyday life in this particular urban neighborhood that I have enjoyed and come to appreciate over the years.