5 – 19 September 2026 | Opening Reception: 5 Septebber, 6:00-9:00 PM
Zar Min Htike was born in 1975 in Kyaikkaw Village, Thaton District, Myanmar. Just like a piece of unpolished rock waiting to be found, he appeared to be someone looking up at the sky when the sun shines from the other side. His father used to operate in the oil-refining business and occasionally contracted theatre groups. His grandmother told him fascinating bedtime stories while he was growing up in the environment of the theatre groups that his parents brought in. He also used to enjoy watching boxing contests at times along with his brother. His childhood surroundings were unstable and always changing as his family used to move around between Kyaikkaw, Theinzeik, Yankin, and Kyaikkaw many times.
In 1993, he learned goldsmithing from his uncle in South Okkalapa, Yangon. He also started composing poems and dreamt of becoming a poet. In the next year, he enrolled at the University of Yangon where he majored in psychology. However, in no time, he joined the University of Culture with the desire to pursue painting. He was not one of those students who just stuck to the course outline but one who belonged to that generation of artists who wanted something fresh. Listening to his own instinct, he painted all that came into his mind in an abstract expressionist style. He created many watercolor and oil paintings, though he left the art school before completing his studies.
When examining the works of Zar Min Htike, it is possible to identify two different phases based on his stylistic approach and the subjects of his works. The first phase might be seen as a time when Zar Min Htike was greatly inspired by American Abstract Expressionism. In his conversations, he often spoke highly of modern art, and it was very evident in his works how his favorite artists had influenced him. In 1998, he staged his first solo show at Myo Kyaw Gallery, presenting his modern oil paintings. This style continued until the 2001 exhibition.
During the period of forty-eight months from the end of 2001 to 2005, he found himself behind the walls. However, the artist did not stop working during that period. When he had the chance, he managed to organize his solo exhibition. The works were small-scale and made using oil pastels. The most important thing during this period is that he managed to strengthen his artistic style through these artworks. These can be considered as the early works of his second phase.
It was at the ANOTHER SEVEN ARTISTS show in 2007 that the Myanmar art scene first got a look at the paintings he created during his second phase. In those days, he and his work felt fresh. The subjects of his paintings were becoming more and more personal in nature. While one could notice the presence of emotional intensity in his paintings, there was an element of calmness as well. Rather than the energetic brush strokes of his earlier paintings, viewers encountered contemplative lines and color expanses. The influence of Western styles in his paintings had gradually faded away. One could sense from his remarks that his works were images from both his conscious and unconscious mind.
The concept was developed further in DEMON DREAMS, a series of paintings produced around 2009. The video and sculptures exhibited at PLAY, a group show in Singapore in 2010 later turned out to be based on the plots and characters of the peculiar bedtime stories he remembered listening to in his childhood, half asleep and half awake. The viewers of his 2013 exhibition GOBLINS IN A WONDERLAND came to realize that the pieces which were referred to as house geckos were based on his experiences during the 2001-2005 period and incorporated techniques, he had learned through his earlier training in goldsmithing. The faces that often repeated in his paintings also began to resemble portraits of the people he surrounded himself with. Now, it becomes clear that the small figure that sits quietly on its pedestal and looks at us from there is no one else but the artist himself. During those years, he somehow managed to return to his roots.
The paintings displayed in this exhibition, entitled WHEN THE SUN SHINES ON THE OTHER SIDE, are selected from a series of paintings done in the first ten years of his second phase. They are fruits that grew out of his daily experiences, crude dreams and passionate devotion to painting during those years. They are concise, direct, fresh, and weighty, like notes quickly scribbled onto the pages of a notebook after much thought. These paintings have also been packed and stored by the artist in his studio for the last fifteen years.
In order to add vibrancy to the exhibition and create a dialogue with the paintings, there are also three papier-mâché sculptures from Zar Min Htike’s later works that have been added.
Here, at the Suvannabhumi Art Gallery, we are delighted to make those pieces of art, which have been lying silent all this time in the dark side of the world, come into the bright light of Chiang Mai. We wish to present the viewer, through this exhibition, with an opportunity to meet once more the eyes looking at us, the faces looking at the world and the figures enjoying the light, along with the world created by the artist. We believe that the viewer will be able to read the poetry inscribed in figures, colors and lines.
The world keeps spinning around. But eventually, the sun will shine on us.
