COLLAGE AND COLOR (La Lanta Fine Art, Baan Silom, 657 Silom Soi 19, 02-266-9180-1, www.lalanta.com, Apr 1-30. Open Tue-Fri 10am-9pm, sat-Sun noon-7pm) is an exhibition of bold and bright abstract art by Maitree Siriboon and Prapat Jiwarangsan, the two talents of Thailand's contemporary art community

"Color, folk and reflection," the Ubon Ratchathani-born Maitree defines his works. "My works always strongly illusrate folk culture, despite the abstract elements. It's a mixture of what's traditional and modern by a person of the new generation, so it's contemporary."

In his cutting-edge collage pieces, Maitree, a recent Thai art graduate from Silpakorn University, assembles colorful bits of mirror, glass and gold leaves with paintings and uncommon texture, derived from local herbs like turmeric and cinnamon - which is his technique to exude reflection. "I've been experimenting and developing many techniques while at the same time maintaining traditional ones," says the 23-year-old artist.

Keen for a different form of art, Prapat Jiwarangsan calls himself a "ceramic and glass artist."

Despite his degree in interior architecture from King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Prapat discovered glass can best articulate his art expression.

He later obtained a Certificate in Glass Design from the famous Central Saint Martin College of the Arts in London. "Formerly, I did a lot of ceremics too. But I wanted to do something different. However, ceremic and glass techniques are the same - only with different materials. So it still gives good basics for my glass works."At Collage and Color, Prapat displays his new collection of glass. Defined as "craft" by the artist, the state-of-the-art, multi-dimensional glass sculptures demonstrate an unusual flowing quality of glass with creative use of colors and seamless combination of techniques.

As a selected designer for the Department of Export Promotion, the 27-year-old Prapat has been showcasing his pieces at a number of international expos. He also shares his experience from abroad in his column in Fine Art magazine. "It's an opportunity to share my overseas experience at art exhibitions and museums. To compare, in the European countries, they consider art treasures, while Thai people, if we have money, would rather spend on gold or other valuable materials. There isn't yet a real national museum - one main place dedicated to Thai art."

"As an artist, we're already a part of the Thai art scene," Maitree comments. "We have different backgrounds. In the Thai way of life, the families don't go to museums - we go to temples. For Thais, temples are museums - they house Thai traditional paintings, Thai-style Buddhist images. But the new generation of Thais doesn't go to temples anymore, so we lack continuation. If we had one good museum, would people go or are they already too used to going to the mall every weekend?"