'Born to be an Outlaw' with Artist and Musician Shane Forbes

You can see Shane's artwork at The Hub bar in Thong Sala and we will let you know when the official opening event is when the date is released. But for now you can read a bit more about the artist behind the work...

Hey Shane, What is your Koh Phangan Story?
I came here when I was first in Thailand for few days holiday and really loved the place. I was singing music at Jimmy’s, a thai guy who plays reggae. I then married a thai girl I met who came from Donsak so I lived in Donsak for three years with her family all around us. Of course I couldn’t speak any thai, at one point I went eight months and didn’t have a conversation with anyone apart from my wife, it was pretty weird. We then came to Phangan to run a business together.

Someone offered me work in construction, I’m the son of a plumber and when I went to college I beat two thousand apprentices to come first in the whole of New South Wales so I then started a plumbing company on Koh Phangan. I was also playing music a bit and painting sometimes.

For two years I was going to Australia every three months but I’ve been here for three years straight now.

I love this island, it’s a fantastic place to live, everything is good for me here. There’s lots of places that play music which are just a few minutes drive away and it’s vibrant because of the people from all over world, you get to hear lots of different stories.

When did you start to paint and what got you interested?
The lady who rents my farm in Australia, her family were my adopted family in Queensland and she is a great artist. I was playing music at the time and she told me about  how you can make a lot of money painting aboriginal portraits for tourists, she taught me that it was all about the light. Her name is Diane Sharp, she tends to paint the same popular paintings over and over again. She can paint other stuff but shops call her and ask for so many of this and so many of that etc.

When she told and taught me I felt that I understood it and I put this in my mind but didn’t start painting properly until twelve years later when I had more free time.

I could do it good pretty much straight away but I got better over time. I have to create the time to produce art as I still have to earn money to live.

You have an exhibition at The Hub (previously Harp Bar) how did this come about and how is it going?
Christopher Thomas offered me a part of an exhibition but then he said he was too busy so I could put mine there, so I installed the exhibition.

The manager Damian is very supportive and I have sold two paintings already but we are still waiting to have the official launch now that christmas and new year have died down.

What are you hoping for your art over the next year?
In the next year I’m looking forward to hopefully participating with Christopher Thomas on murals and live painting. I want to progress and do more paintings which are close to my heart and hopefully I will have time.

I’m also promoting my music quite well, I am playing Coral Bar every friday night and the lost dog once a week.

Tell us a bit more about your music projects?
In Australia I was playing bass, singing and songwriting. I recorded two albums which got some airplay, mainly in Queensland, some songs have become very popular in the Gulf of Carpentaria. I get introduced as ‘the man who wrote and recorded Tagaluka girl’ which I think is excellent, I think they’re still playing it!

I Also had one getting a lot of airplay called ‘Born to be an outlaw’ which was very popular with all races. It was getting five to ten plays per day on some stations for at least five years, I suppose that means they put it in their song playlist.

It’s nice that people could relate and appreciate some songs that I’ve written and of course the music video on youtube which shows parts of my farm and the river where my farm is.

What have you done musically on Koh Phangan?
I started off going to The Jam and playing bass and singing a bit but mostly backing people so in the last few months I have decided that I like playing bass but I start losing my effort when the band breaks up, you can’t go and play bass solo.

So I’ve picked up the guitar, I’ve got a thing that plays bass and drums for me so I can play trio on my own.

I’m observing everyone’s musical acts and a lot has changed, bands dissolved and Dj’s became bigger, there are more solo acts now as hotels don’t want to pay for a whole band so I have been working on my solo stuff for the last three months.

What do you enjoy about Koh Phangan when you’re not working?
I’ve fallen in love with Chaloklum, it’s got the small town atmosphere that I like.

The beaches are beautiful, I have always gone surfing as I grew up on a beach. I really love the jungle, it’s nearly the same jungle as North Queensland. When I paint jungles it’s not from photos, it’s from my mind’s image.

The thing I really like about Phangan is the international flavour, I imagine it’s Atlantis risen again and the people have been put here to bring ideas from all over the world. It’s really exciting to mix with so many different cultures and the local thai people are pretty nice and lovely.

What is your life philosophy?
Honesty, trying to keep my word, give as much love as you can and be at peace in my heart.