Mary Pakinee

Rendering an interior world
By Ian Tee

Mary Pakinee, ‘Some Pond no.02’, 2022, 3D rendering and digital painting, printed on the metal sheet, 76 x 51cm. Image courtesy of the artist and A+ Works of Art.

Pakinee Srijaronsuk (also known as Mary Pakinee) is interested in the themes of intimacy and perception, particularly how one relates to their surroundings. Through the use of drawing and digital techniques to render realistic images, she invites the viewer to explore an interior world. 

Born in 1992 in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, Mary graduated with a Bachelors in Visual Art from Bangkok University in 2015. Her solo exhibitions include ‘No Man Land’ (2023) at S.E.A. Focus 2023, ‘Garden in the Desert’ (2022) at A+ WORKS of ART, and ‘My Hands Remember How Your Body Felt’ (2016) at Bangkok University Gallery.

Mary Pakinee, ‘Some Lake’, 2022, 3D rendering and digital painting, printed on the metal sheet, 90 x 60cm. Image courtesy of the artist and A+ Works of Art.

Mary’s latest solo presentation ‘No Man Land’ (2023) raises complex questions about our relationships with digital environments, the natural landscape, and mental spaces. At the heart of ‘No Man Land’ is a virtual world the artist created using Unreal Engine, a 3D computer graphics game engine. It is an open-world void of humans, but filled with various plants and natural formations. While this realm bears an uncanny resemblance to our imagination of “untouched nature”, the artificial paradise is in fact composed of randomly placed 3D models based on a pre-designed blueprint.

In the video work by the same title, the audience occupies the perspective of a player exploring this virtual world. Even though the viewer is surrounded by a beautiful expansive landscape, there is a creeping sense of alienation. Periodically, a loud bang is heard. The player blacks out, only to wake up and continue wandering around. This cycle stirs feelings of confusion, desperation, even futility. ‘No Man Land’ speaks to issues about environmentalism and our escape into digitally-simulated experiences of nature in video games. However, it is also a layered commentary that connects these environments with deep-seated emotions. Mary activates the mechanics of game design to create spaces for empathy and complexity.

Mary Pakinee, ‘Under the Lace no.6’, 2021, drawing on washi paper, 59.4 x 42cm (frame not included). Image courtesy of the artist and A+ Works of Art.

Mary Pakinee, ‘My Hands’, 2016, cosmetic drawing on paper, 54.5 x 78cm (without frame). Image courtesy of the artist.

Mary deftly moves between analogue and digital techniques. Though she became familiar with digital tools through her work as an illustrator at various design firms, her earlier bodies of work are traditional observation-based drawings. One aspect that ties them together is a fidelity to realism. Whether one is looking at the pores of a lover’s hand drawn with cosmetics, a delicate flower blooming in the desert, or the crystal-clear 3D rendering of paradise in ‘No Man Land’, fine details draw the viewer into Mary’s interior world. 

Click here to read our dialogue with Mary Pakinee.