The Breast Stupa Cookery Project is an ongoing collaborative art project initiated by Pinaree Sanpitak, one of Thailand's most prominent female artists, in 2005. The project sets out to explore the meaning and interpretation of the artist’s signature work, the breast-shaped stupa, through culinary art.

Internationally acclaimed, Pinaree is known for her abstract shapes and forms of the female body which she portrays through various media including: drawing, ceramics, sculpture, painting and textiles. Her work explores feminine sensuality, desire and sensitivity.

In 2004, The Art Center at the Jim Thompson House presented 'temporary insanity', an exhibition of recent works by Pinaree Sanpitak. The exhibition added an entirely new dimension to Pinaree's statement about the female form. She transformed the breast from merely being an object of desire to make a deeper emotional statement. Through her new works, Pinaree shifts from purely sculptural renderings to an interactive form of art that calls on the viewer to participate. The Place & The Plate takes this a step further by inviting participants to explore the nurturing aspects of the breast through the Breast Stupa Cookery Project.

Professional and amateur chefs have been invited to create various menus and dishes for Breast Stupa Cookery, using breast-shaped aluminum and ceramic cooking moulds, specially designed by Pinaree. These include special menus and chocolate desserts exclusively created by Jim Thompson chefs. In this way, food truly becomes medium and connection of art.

The special Breast Stupa Cookery menus created by Jim Thompson chefs incorporating folk recipes for a variety of flavorful ‘yam’ (traditional Thai salads) and dips and royal cuisine offer plenty of opportunities for participants to explore the subtleties in taste and texture of Thai cuisine.

Breast Stupa Cookery menus are available at Saladaeng Café and the Thompson Bar and Restaurant during the period of the exhibition, June to August 2007.

Thompson Bar & Restaurant at Jim Thompson House
Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama 1 Road, Bangkok
Tel: +66 (0) 2612 3601
Open daily 09.00 – 18.00 (last order at 17.00)

Saladaeng Café
120/1 Saladaeng Soi 1, Silom Road, Bangkok
Tel: +66 (0) 2266 9167
Open daily 11.00 – 23.00

Pinaree Sanpitak was born in 1961. Her career as an artist began in the early 1990s, and her works have been included in major art exhibitions such as Glimpse into Future: Art in Southeast Asia 1997 , Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; The 3^rd Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art 1999 , Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia and The 2^nd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2002 , Fukuoka, Japan. She has also participated in a number of solo exhibitions at locations including: the Art Center, Chulalongkorn University; The National Gallery Bangkok; About Studio/About Café, Bangkok; and Salina Art Center, Kansas, USA. She currently lives and works in Bangkok.

THE PLACE & THE PLATE
Food, Feeling and the New French Table Way of Life
An exhibition of design and gastronomy
Jointly organized by The Jim Thompson Art Center, the French Embassy in Thailand and Alliance Française Bangkok
June 28 to August 31, 2007
(Part of LA FÊTE – French Thai Cultural Festival in Bangkok)
Admission Free
Venue: The Art Center at the Jim Thompson House is open daily from 09.00 – 17.00.
Please click to view