“.”, “..”, “...”, “....”, “.....”, & “.....”, 2018

Set of 6 pigmentary print, framed

Ensemble de 6 tirages pigmentaires, encadrés

Edition 3 of 3 (+ 1 A.P.) as a unique set

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​This series of photographic prints illustrates, upon the first gazes, constellations in the night sky. They are in fact photographs of light beaming through countless holes on a cardboard the artist has borrowed from a lottery vendor in Bangkok. The cardboard was initially used as the display panel on which lottery tickets were stapled for prolonged period. Whilst being loaded with anecdotes, the found object became a device Phinthong employed to built narrations portraying collective aspiration, social landscape and muted tension. Notably, the light radiated varied in this body of work, although it transmitted subliminal impression upon viewers, many lives were cast. A poetic transference of invisible realities.

Hundreds of small luminous dots stand out on each of the dark cliches scattered here and there in space. The Thai conceptual Pratchaya Phinthong would have photographed a starry night? The reality is more prosaic. It is actually punched cards, on which were pinned lottery tickets. The artist recovered these worthless boards and asked street vendors - a tuk-tuk driver, a ravioli vendor - to throw the light from their stall or vehicle in order to make it stand out for everyone. these little holes. Each perforation thus refers to a sold ticket and its ghost buyer. Together they make this economy of chance tangible, producing both wealth and hope. Together, they draw an abstract cartography of hopes, a constellation of individuals linked by the same faith in chance, an invisible community of believers that Pratchaya Phinthong reveals with an urban light. A light almost divine and which, here, bridges a social reality and a world glittering with stars, like this fantasy life sparkled by consumers of games of chance, and on which this industry is founded.