Jessada Kongsommart is still young, almost frightfully young, but there is nothing about him that calls for the word "upstart". His achievement is well deserved. What you will experience in the National Gallery is the works of an extremely talented and hard working young man who is both ambitious and modest.

Jessada Kongsommart’s art has the wonderful expression of timeless knowledge. He draws his themes from rural life of the countryside in "TIN TEE CHAN KERD" (in the Kalasin Province) where he grew up. The sweet, damp smell of pure oil, living so close to mother-nature that you can breathe her beauty, the handicraft of the village people, the silk fabric patterns, yes, that homage to pure traditional life at the risk of being crushed under the steely paws of modern, noisy, urban life. There is also a dark sensual undercurrent in many of Jessada’s paintings that gives them an almost erotic quality.

The exhibition of Jessada Kongsommart’s art in the National Gallery is of course the high point of his career. I can think of no greater honour for a painter, he is now an established and highly regarded artist. The next step must be the world. Being a Norwegian I found it strange that these paintings, so clearly anchored in Thai traditions, should move me so deeply. But then I realised that Jessada’s art transcends all our differences, they speak a language that all human beings can understand, no matter where he is born on Earth. We walk on the same soil, breathe the same air under the same heaven, all of us experiencing the darkness of sorrow and the light of love, with the soft whispers of spirits and the gods in our ears.

When the season for the harvest arrives, all the machinery is made ready to plow and farm the land. After the agricultural duties are complete, people attend to their handicraft work. Women prepare their tools for spinning, and weave the colourful silk threads in preparation for forthcoming celebrations. The men in turn, gather and prepare materials for their handicraft work before the rainy season comes. These are the kinds of country life activities which have been going on from the past to present day, and the skills are passed on from generation to generation.