International exhibition puts spotlight on Myanmar artist

Centre Pompidou mounts retrospective of works by Bagyi Aung Soe

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The late Myanmar artist Bagyi Aung Soe sought to transcend the Western influences that dominated artistic themes in the country and create illustrations with accessible materials, such as simple markers and pens. His work is being shown at the Centre Pompidou in Paris through Aug. 23. (Photo by Sonny Nyein, courtesy of the Centre Pompidou)

NATHALIE JOHNSTON, Contributing writer

June 16, 2021 08:00 JST

YANGON -- What should have been a great moment for Myanmar contemporary art, an exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris celebrating the late artist and actor Bagyi Aung Soe, was overshadowed by the Feb. 1 military coup in Myanmar.

But in some ways it seemed fitting that the backdrop for the exhibition -- post-coup violence, chaos and confusion -- highlighted similarly historic moments that Bagyi Aung Soe lived through and occasionally addressed in his work, up to his death in 1990 at the age of 66.