Biography

Born in 1972, Sunti Pichetchaiyakul grew up on a small farm with his parents and five elder siblings in Chumpuang, Nakhon Ratchasima, a humble village in North-eastern Thailand. Sunti’s mother, Tongpoonsi, worked as a seamstress while his father, Chan, taught Thai language and managed the local elementary school. As early as age four, Sunti contributed to the family income, lending a hand in harvesting and selling fruits, vegetables, and sugarcane, and recycled bottles and cans for pocket change.

Aspiring to become an artist since childhood, Sunti would sneak charcoal into his bedroom and draw pictures on his walls, making sure to wash them clean before his father retuned from work. Evidently, his mischief paid off, as he began winning annual art contests and became regionally recognized for his innate talent by the time Sunti turned seven. Popular amongst his peers, the children of Chumpuang were enthralled by Sunti’s ability to create figurines from the clay of the local rivers, and regularly offered him one or two baht for a toy.

As an adolescent, Sunti attended Rachamongkon Institute of Technology, Korat, specializing in fine arts and studying sculpture. By age 16, Sunti became self-employed, beginning as a painter and cartoon artist, and was often hired by his art teachers. However, with his sights set on university, Sunti sought further employment with sculpture company, Dang Gumpon, and began saving his daily wages of $3.15, to attend Pho Chang University when he was 21.

In 1994, Sunti graduated from Rachamongkon University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts and opened his first painting gallery at The Mall Ngamwongwan in Bangkok. Being a gifted young artist in a culture that grants respect only to seniors, Sunti worked laboriously to be afforded a chance to create sculptures.

Today, over a decade later, Sunti is known as “Amazing One” throughout the Siamese Kingdom for his ability to fashion life out of clay, clearly emulating, as they say, the work of an alchemist. Yet, while Sunti’s hometown reputation is attributed to the magic he produces making Buddhist sculptures, Sunti welcomes and embraces new challenges, matchlessly creating and enriching Western art.

Now at age 36, Sunti has made 37 television appearances featured in Thailand, Japan, Korea, and China, as well as on UBC and CNN World, and his talent has been publicized in over 8,000 magazines and newspaper issues worldwide. Undeniably, with commissions from Laos, Taiwan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Japan, and the United States, Sunti’s artwork is becoming internationally recognized for having enhanced and revolutionized even Madame Tussaud’s depiction of a figure in wax.

Indeed, with his vision global, Sunti has recently relocated to America with his wife, and has picked up his paintbrush to re-instill life and honor into Native American Chiefs. He anticipates continuing to sculpt in the West, develop his alchemical aptitude, and transfigure the definition of realistic art.