Paw Thame

Paw Thame (1948–2014) was a Burmese-American painter. He was one of the leaders of the modernist art movement in Burma during the 1970s and early 1980s. Paw Thame, Win Pe, Kin Maung Yin and Bagyi Aung Soe were friends at the Peacock Gallery exchanging modernist ideas and concepts, alternatively supporting one another and locked in rivalry. They built on the foundations laid by early Burmese modernists Aung Khin and Kin Maung (Bank). Now recognized as the giants of Burmese modern art, Yangon society in the 1970s disparaged them--"modern art" was literally translated as "psychopathic art" or "crazy art".

Early life/ Education
Paw Thame was largely self-taught although as a young man he spent much time in the studios of Aung Khin and Kin Maung (Bank). When the Mandalay School of Fine Arts could not provide a night class for him the school's dean sent him to Aung Khin to learn. Riding his bike there, he became a habitute of this master's studio, where he was treated like a son. Paw Thame would watch Aung Khin paint, learning about the technique, the process and the lifestyle of an artist. But Paw Thame was not attracted to Aung Khin's Impressionism, which he had already studied in books. Paw Thame was reading a lot and the two of them would go to the teashop to discuss art, always calmed by Aung Khin's gentle character and the respect he showed Paw Thame, patiently listening to his ambitions, his restlessness for new art forms and his dissatisfaction with "this Myanmar art-stage".

Soon, Win Pe heard about Paw Thame, actively giving him support, art materials and access to his studio. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Win Pe introduced Paw Thame to Kin Maung and the three of them would meet at Kin Maung's or Win Pe's house to discuss modern concepts and to paint together. Upon graduation from Mandalay University, Paw Thame spent the summer living at Kin Maung's house, working with Kin Maung in his studio. Kin Maung and Win Pe were Paw Thame's greatest influences. They shared a burning desire to present new art, new forms; they were not satisfied with the presentations prevalent in Burma's art. Later, Paw Thame met Kin Maung Yin. These four artists he called his "backbones".

Peacock Gallery
In 1975, Paw Thame founded Peacock Gallery, the first gallery to be entirely devoted to modern art and a space combining his love for horticulture and art, where some of Rangoon's most avant-garde artists like Bagyi Aung Soe (1924-1990), Win Pe (1936-), Kin Maung Yin (1938-) and Sonny Nyein (1949-) gathered to spar and to show their works. It was the vanguard of Burma's modern art movement. There, the artists were exempt from the ruling party's stringent censorship rules on public exhibitions, as well as free from the mainstream figurative painters' stifling conservatism. Their highly innovative private shows – paper cut-outs, batik, rare plants, etc. – challenged common perceptions of art at that time. It was a prolific period for all members of the Gallery. Other members were Shwe Oung Thame, Ma Thanegi, Gyee Saw, Sein Myint and Nyi Nyi. This groundbreaking gallery had a huge impact on the modern art scene in Yangon. For a long time, until Paw Thame emigrated to the United States in 1984, it was the only gallery of modern art in Burma.

Oeuvre
During the 1960s in Mandalay, when Paw Thame was on the threshold of modern art and reading voraciously, he was most impressed by Win Pe's designs and compositions and the graphic quality of Kin Maung (Bank)'s works: solid colors, flat planes and clean lines. Into the 1970s in Rangoon, Paw Thame continued to display a marked penchant for the simplification of form into geometric shapes that harks back to Cézanne's premise to ‘treat nature by the cylinder, the sphere, the cone'. Certain works from the middle of the 1970s continue to display close stylistic affinities with the works of Win Pe, Kin Maung (Bank) and Paw Oo Thet. He was a master of both perpendicular and curved lines.

Paw Thame works are varied, as he refused to limit himself in style or subject. Yin Ker writes, "his oeuvre over three decades since the 1970s presents great stylistic and thematic eclecticism. If anything, it is uniformity and repetition that turn the artist off; he sees a serious artist as one who constantly pushes the boundaries by adapting novel modes of representation – even questioning them. Paw Thame has no respect for an artist who paints the same subject matter repeatedly in the same palette and composition. He equates such behavior as the breaking of the artist's oath; it makes more sense ‘to sit under a tree and do nothing'. In fact, he defines "modernism" – a term that continues to invite debate and criticism – as the pursuit of new representational modes". His creativity and the boldness of his brushstrokes, composition and colors seen in his paintings set him apart from many others in his generation.

I Am Cadmium Red
I Am Cadmium Red, Paw Thame's memoir, is based on email exchanges between Paw Thame and a patron friend in late 2008 and early 2009. These were later given to the Burmese writer Ma Thanegi for editing into book form. In first person, this account between an artist and his friend and patron reveal the artist's perspectives on himself, life and art. Yin Ker states that "Paw Thame's revelations echo aspects of Giorgio Vasari's biographies, Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times. It is an exceptional witness in a milieu where few if any would call a spade a spade lest it offends. This account is an indispensable perspective of the story of the development of modernism in Burma and a substantial contribution to Burmese art history".