by Vipasai Niyamabha
The Nation

BANGKOK-BASED Australian photographer Rick Martin first fell in love with the city in 2003, but don't try to pin him down in any "Interiors" - the subject of his current exhibition at La Lanta Fine Art gallery. His vision of the capital is constantly evolving.

Martin’s obsession with cities pulled him up from his small-town roots Down under for a tour of Ireland and the United states and he spent four years in Hong Kong, where he says his obsession became an addition.

“ Hong Kong did that to me”

And Bangkok, he’s since discovered, is no place to kick the habit. He loves the Thai way of life, loves capturing its colours.

“I usually use both black and white and colour in my shows, but this time I’m showing only colour photographs – they reflect my fascination with the city. Colours have more energy – you catch the contrast between red and gold and it turns into a visual feast”

Martin held his first Bangkok exhibition, “ Golden Palace”, at the Tadu gallery in 2003. He now runs his own studio in the Ramkhamhaeng area.

“In The INTERIOR, I pay a great deal of attention to the layers, the complexity of space. In Thailand I try to capture places that combine religious belief with everything else.”

An outstanding example is in the details he shot in a tyre shop. Beyond the rubber there’s a shrine, a desk, a portrait of His Majesty the King. He says he’s never seen this kind of visual complexity outside of Thailand.

“It’s interesting to see how space is used here…very small spaces are packed with such intensity. If you look at the photograph closely it tells you a lot about the culture. It also shows the intimacy the inhabitant has inside this space.”

It’s in search of this intimacy that he spends time ambling around the city’s back streets. This passion for the usual, he says, can only be fulfilled alone.

“If I have other people with me, it becomes a problem when I ask someone to allow me into his personal space. It’s not very convenient to work like that.

“Luckily I’ve only been turned down three times. Most people I ask to photograph are very generous. Some of them even laugh because they don’t understand what I want to do with their mundane places. They don’t find their places very interesting.”

It’s all in the perspective, Martin says.

“I love to find things in between the drama. The more I look, the more I see the details, and then I can capture something.

“People always look to capture special moments.

For me, I don’t want people in my shot. I need the quietness of the space, which is a complete contrast to what’s going on and what the city scenes really are. It’s nice to create this contrast.”

Gaining access can be both a pleasure and a challenge.

“When I first started, I didn’t know how much people were going to tolerate. I’d walk around, see things, remember and go back the next time with a camera and a tripod.

“People have to leave their space to allow me to work. But I don’t usually take too long – just 10 to 20 minutes, because I already know what I want to do.”

For Martin, there’s always a surprise around every corner. Even though he often gets lost, he finds walking down unknown sois fun.

“It’s amazing to find streets that have that communal feel…like in a village where kids go running around and yelling in the street.”

Martin compares Bangkok’s beautiful chaos to the controlled beauty of the West.

“I feel the West is increasingly tight. That’s why so many Westerners come to live in Asia.”

Bangkok, he says is becoming “tight”, but it’s still not too constricted for him, and so far not too polluted either.

“Some may find it unbearable, but I enjoy the city sights, even the parade of construction you see when looking out from the Skytrain.

“The place I come from is no city. It’s 10 minutes from the beach and the hills. It’s nice to see the horizon, to refresh the eyes, but I prefer cities.

“There’s something bizarre, strange about big cities… I like it when everything is packed into one place.”