La Inthonkaew
La was born in a small village bordering the jungle in central Thailand in 1980 or 1981. She is Thai, but some of her ancestors also came from Burma, Laos and China. Her father was a local shaman; her uncle was a locally venerated Buddhist monk famous for his miraculous powers; the women in her family were traditionally midwives.
She went to school for only four years, commuting from the family farm to the center of the village on the back of her favorite water buffalo - and almost always escaped before the end of her classes by jumping out of a classroom window, because she was bored. After the premature death of her father, the family disintegrated and, at the age of eleven, La found herself alone with two small brothers to take care of. She had to become a hunter and gatherer in order to survive for the next two years.
Later, La went through a number of menial jobs working e.g. as a construction laborer, cook, cleaning lady, masseuse and a beach parasol lender.
A mother of three, La gave birth to her first child when she was fifteen, and at the age of 33 she was already the grandmother of twins. While visiting with her family in Phuket in 2004, she was swept up by the tsunami, which
2010
The total number of her paintings now exceeds three hundred and there are approximately four hundred drawings, too. So far, six exhibitions of her work have taken place in Prague. In 2018, a shared exhibition in Příkazy u Olomouce placed her paintings with those of Iva Folajtárová. Also in 2018, her paintings were included in the collective exhibition of art owned by Pavel Konečný in Luhačovice, Czech Republic. In 2019, three solo exhibitions took place: in Artinbox gallery at the turn of May/June, in Bastion gallery in Tábor in July and in Artmaterial.cz gallery in Děčín in August. And in October 2019, her paintings were again included in the exhibition of Pavel Konečný’s collection, this time in Přerov. Recently, articles about her paintings appeared in Czech magazines Analogon No. 83 (III/2017), Tvar No. 1/2018, Revolver Revue No. 110, Xantypa No. 7-8/2018 and Analogon No. 88 (II/2019).
In 2020, La’s drawings of the coronavirus appeared in Raw Vision No. 106 and Osservatorio Outsider Art No. 20. Manuel Anceau delivered a lecture about La’s oeuvre as part of the lecture series organized by Lise Maurer at the Institut Protestant de Théologie in Paris. And an article comparing La’s paintings with the work of the Peruvian painting shaman Dimas Paredes was included in the almanac Amazonía Unida published by the Mendel University in Brno.
Ondřej Sekanina, 2020
Beauty and Amanitas
oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm
Hunter and Amanita
oil on canvas, 90 x 110 cm
Big Self-Portrait
oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm
Garden of Heavenly Delights
oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm
Archer
oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm
Buddha in the Jungle
oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm
Sun and Sunflower
oil on canvas, 130 x 90 cm
2011
Woman and Monkeys
oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm
How I Learned to Walk
oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm
Old Sun in Dross
oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm
Catdog and Goldfish
oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm
Dancing Frogs
oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm
Two Spirits
oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm
Shaman - my Father
oil on canvas, 80 x 70 cm
2012
Bird Repairer
oil on canvas, 100 x 70 cm
Bananasausagefish
oil on canvas, 45 x 60 cm
Self-Portrait Selling Flowers
oil on canvas, 50 x 50 cm
Flowers and Venus Passing in front of the Sun
oil on canvas, 130 x 100 cm
2013
Phuket II
oil on canvas, 70 x 90 cm
Me, Nakonda and our Animals in Bed
oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm
Ayahuasca Self-Portrait
oil on canvas, 80 x 80 cm
2014
Nierika
oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm
Self-Portrait (Cook a Frog)
oil on canvas, 80 x 70 cm
Winter Self-Portrait
oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm
Ayahuasca Flower
oil on canvas, 70 x 80 cm
Mona Lisa with Caterpillar
oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm
2015
Shaman
oil on canvas, 80 x 70 cm
Self-Portrait with Renowned Artist
oil on canvas, 80 x 70 cm
2016
Tiger Woman
oil on canvas, 90 x 120 cm
Buddha in the Whale
oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm
Jonah in the Whale
oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm
Man, Dog and Green Mouse
oil on canvas, 70 x 60 cm
2017
Self-Portrait in Cap
oil on canvas, 90 x 80 cm
Deer and Parasol Mushrooms
oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm
Owl Family
oil on canvas, 100 x 90 cm
Flamingo
oil on canvas, 80 x 90 cm
Dinosaur and Turtle
oil on canvas, 90 x 100 cm
Sea Goblin
oil on canvas, 110 x 90 cm
Self-Portrait on Bike with Sheep
oil on canvas, 90 x 110 cm
Self-Portrait as Butterfly
oil on canvas, 100 x 90 cm
Sunflowers and Rabbit
oil on canvas, 110 x 90 cm
2018
Woman with Watermelon
oil on canvas, 130 x 90 cm
Woman with Green Vase
oil on canvas, 130 x 90 cm
Mushroom Fairy
oil on canvas, 110 x 80 cm
Red Sun
oil on canvas, 90 x 80 cm
Spirit with Third Eye
oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm
Head Made of Snakes
oil on canvas, 80 x 70 cm
Mermaid
oil on canvas, 90 x 80 cm
Mermaid with Boyfriend
oil on canvas, 90 x 80 cm
Head Made of Seafood
oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm
Moon with Rabbit
oil on canvas, 90 x 80 cm
2018
Flower - Abstract Face
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Pregnant
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Flower Made of Eyes
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Harlequin with Snake
drawing on paper, 30 x 42,5 cm
Buddha in Volcano
drawing on paper, 30 x 42 cm
Robosombat
drawing on paper, 30 x 42 cm
2019
Wilting Rose
oil on canvas, 90 x 50 cm
Handbag
oil on canvas, 90 x 50 cm
Amanita Woman
oil on canvas, 90 x 50 cm
Shenzhen Demon
oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm
Owl
oil on canvas, 70 x 90 cm
Green Tomcat
oil on canvas, 110 x 90 cm
Family in Vortex
oil on canvas, 80 x 50 cm
Frog on Lotus
oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm
Birds and Mushrooms
oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm
Sun and Mountains
oil on canvas, 90 x 130 cm
2019
Butterflies
drawing on paper, 30 x 42 cm
Flowers
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Big Violet Flower
drawing on paper, 30 x 42 cm
Bride
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Wings
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Root Fairy
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
2020
Peek Between Legs
oil on canvas, 90 x 50 cm
Dead Coronavirus
oil on canvas, 90 x 80 cm
Adam and Eve – the Last People
oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cm
2020
Statue of Liberty
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Violet Flowers with La’s Own Hands
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Blue and Violet Flowers
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Sun Washing Coronaviruses
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Peek Between Legs
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Face Mask
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Angel Washing Coronavirus
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Coronavirus with Babies in Tree
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Sun Washing Coronaviruses
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Coronavirus Hawkmoth
drawing on paper, 30 x 42 cm
Coronavirus with Facemask
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
Disco People Killing Mushroom La as Ophelia
drawing on paper, 42 x 30 cm
