Mr. Thawan went to the Netherlands to study from 1964 to 1968, and became immersed in the tradition and techniques of Western art. After returning to Thailand, the artist devoted himself to an examination of his Thai identity. He then began to explore and reexamine the insanity, degeneration, violence, eroticism, and death lurking in the heart of modern man as they are involved with religion. Mr. Thawan expressed these concepts with a startling technique utilizing a black tone, drawing from the wellspring of traditional Thai Buddhist art and Buddhist thought.