"VANGUARD Sculpture & Painting Exhibition by

Paw Thame & Sonny Nyein"

(5th to 18th October, 2012)

Paw Thame and Sonny Nyein share a friendship that has lasted for decades; in the same way they share a commitment to their art. Each knows instinctively what the other is doing in his art and where he will go: there was never any need for one of them to voice his thoughts to the other. Paw Thame’s paintings and Sonny Nyein’s sculptures are a match. They share a similarity in their works in showing the strength and power that was born out of the force of their natures.

Their first collaboration was with the opening of the Peacock Gallery in 1976, the earliest modern gallery to open in Myanmar. At the time, modern art has just began gaining the interest of many aspiring young artists from all over the country, most of whom could see the trend only in the illustrations in magazines or news about the few and far-between modern art shows in the dailies.
Peacock Gallery which presented three to four shows annually by its nine members was an instant draw to both collectors and the art community. While many of the older and conservative artists could not ‘understand’ the new forms the others soon realised that there is more to art than the skill of reproducing the physical appearances of objects.

With U Kin Maung (Bahn) of Mandalay and Baji Aung Soe of Yangon known as the first-line leaders of modern art, and Kin Maung Yin, Win Pe and Paw Oo Thett the second-liners, the third groups consisted of Paw Thame and Sonny Nyein as well as Khin One, Kyi Twe, Sun Myint, Nyunt Myat, Myo Nyunt etc.

However it must be said that Paw Thame and Sonny Nyein deserve a special place in the history of Myanmar art, for the success of their Peacock Gallery in promoting of new and strong ideas that inspired the following generations.