Apinan Poshyananda was born in Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 in 1956. He is one of the most renowned curators and art writers in the Asian region.

Education

Poshyananda received an MFA degree from Edinburgh University, and a PhD in art history from Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

.

Career

Poshyananda is now Director-General, Department of Cultural Promotion, the Ministry of Culture, and professor at the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University

Chulalongkorn University

Chulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand and is the country's highest ranked university. It now has nineteen faculties and institutes. Regarded as the best and most selective university in Thailand, it consistently attracts top students from around the country...

. Before joining the Ministry of Culture, he was the chief curator of the Art Center of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University.

Contribution to Contemporary Art

Poshyananda eagerly promotes Thai contemporary artists by sending them overseas to participate in such major international art exhibitions. With his expertise in art and culture, as well as his great contribution to the art world, he then became an internationally-recognized curator.

In 2001, Poshyananda was awarded the Outstanding National Research Award by the National Research Council of Thailand.

Selected works

• Traditions/Tensions (New York, U.S.A., traveling, 1996)
• 1st and 2nd Asia Pacific Triennial (Brisbane, Australia, 1993, 1996), Thai and Australian section, respectively
• Appointed as a commissioner for the Asian section of 24th São Paulo Biennale (Brazil, 1998)
• 9th Sydney Biennale (1992)
• 4th Istanbul Biennale (1994)
• 1st Johannesburg Biennale (1995)
• 1st Liverpool Biennale (1999)
• Curating solo exhibitions by Nobuyoshi Araki, Yasurmasa Morimura, Choi Jeong Hwa, Zhang Peili, Hung Liu, Marina Abramovic and Mella Jaarsma
• Organizing numerous exhibitions including one-person shows by Pinaree Sanpitak, Chatchai Puipia, Kamol Phaosavasdi, Vasan Sitthiket, Jakapan Vilasaneekul, Pratuang Emjaroen, Manit Sriwanichpoom and Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook.
• Organizing a solo show by Montien Boonma in New York
• Joining the exhibition Beyond Paradise of the Moderna Museet in StockholmGuest as a guest curator.
• Selecting contemporary Nordic art to travel to Asia in 2002
• International advisor for 1st Echigo-Tsumari Triennal (2000), 1st Yokohama Triennal (2001), and the art acquisition committee of The Asia Society, New York.
• Author of Modern Art in Thailand (OUP, 1992) and Western-style Painting and Sculpture in the Thai Royal Court (Bangkok, 1993)
• One of the curators writing for Fresh Cream (Phaidon, 2000)
• Co-author of a major text book on modern and contemporary Asian art, published in New York
• Co-editor of Over Here (The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York)