---

For the inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar, Galerie Lelong and Ames Yavuz are pleased to present Vessels, a solo presentation by Pinaree Sanpitak. Expanding her long-standing investigation of the vessel as both object and idea, this multidisciplinary presentation investigates the body, care, balance, and transformation. In the context of Art Basel Qatar’s theme of Becoming, curated by Artistic Director Wael Shawky, Sanpitak’s work proposes an alternate epistemology—one centered on the body as a system of sensing, adapting, and holding. Sanpitak gained recognition in the early 1990s for her iconic breast forms, and by decade’s end she had inverted the motif into a vessel, an evolution that broadened her reflections on the female self and motherhood into a wider investigation of the human form and of humanity. On view in Qatar will be two large-scale drawings, Vessel 1 (2000) and Vessel 3 (2000), each depicting a floating form suspended in a black field. These are important early drawings of a motif the artist would return to repeatedly in the decades to come, echoing the alms bowl used by Buddhist monks: a humble devotional object that receives offerings each day and represents interdependence, community, and impermanence. Complementing these is a suite of six monoprints on paper from her Vessels series (2000), each a subtle variation on the others. Also on view will be Balancing Act 24 (2024), a kinetic installation composed of twenty-four antique Indian water vessels, each poised atop a motorized plinth. These formerly utilitarian, colorful metal forms are reanimated through a gentle rocking motion. At the mouth of each vessel, a delicate stack of hand-dyed mulberry paper forms the silhouette of a breast. Their constant movement reflects Sanpitak’s belief that balance is not a fixed state but a dynamic condition.

---

---

ABOUT ARTISTS : Pinaree Sanpitak

---

---

For over three decades, Pinaree Sanpitak has explored her sense of being in the world, emanating from and in dialogue with her own body and experiences. Deploying a concise vocabulary of signifiers in a sensual, minimal style, Sanpitak reduces her artistic language to its essence to create a joyful experience of feeling and sensing, widening and engaging the body in its many dimensions: individual, social, spiritual, aesthetic. After the birth of her son, Sanpitak centered representations of the breast in her practice to epitomize the beauty she found in the experience, while other forms have since found their way into her lexicon to address themes of womanhood, nurture, spirituality, and more broadly, the experience of being human in the world. Employing a wide range of materials, Sanpitak pushes the boundaries between material and meaning by exploiting the slippages between concepts such as strength and fragility, lightness and weight, hard and soft. Intent on making art that encourages one not only to see but also sense with the body, Sanpitak has made installations and interactive works that invite visitors to commune and complete the work.

Art Basel Qatar is Art Basel's fifth premier event and our newest show, running February 5-7, 2026 in Doha. Anchored in a dynamic long-term partnership with Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) and QC+, Art Basel Qatar will debut as a concisely curated showcase celebrating Qatar’s vibrant cultural landscape and the dynamic arts ecosystem of the MENA region. The inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar will be held at M7, a creative hub in the heart of Doha, as well as at the Doha Design District in downtown Msheireb.

mpefm QATAR fair art press release