job title: illustrator
company: freelance
based: london
website: www.oatmontien.com
bio: studying MA at CSM / selected for the Dazed Digital 'Rise' feature / winner of the Kinokuniya Digital Art Prize

1. What is the Art Education system like in Thailand? As a teenager were your drawing skills recognized and encouraged?



2. You completed your BA degree in Sydney, Australia and now you are studying here in London on the Communication Design MA at Central St Martins. Why did you choose to study abroad? What have been the advantages for yourself and your design abilities?



3. What is the Kinokuniya Digital Art Prize, and what did it mean for you & your work to win in 2007?



4. What is your definition of talent?



5. Do you believe you are talented?



After our interview Oat sent me his additional thoughts on talent:

"The meaning of talent, to me, often involves a certain underlying context of judgment or comparison of some sort. If one has been labeled as 'talented', there has to be others who will label them as the norm. This is why the notion of 'talent' varies from one context to another. An exquisite being could easily be overlooked if it exists among its similar kind, or in an environment where its specialty is not recognized. From my own experience, as I traveled from country to country, the part of me that was considered a 'talent' in Australia was nothing special at all to the people in Tokyo. So, due to its flexible meaning (as a level of extraordinary), I think the word 'talent' is very vague. Although, this is not to say that I don't believe in its power. The word 'talent' does bring out the best in people. Shows like 'Britain's got talent' (even though it still involves others judgment to say who passes as 'talented'), makes people look in themselves and find what is special within them. As I mentioned in the interview, we all have something special, whether it's a very obvious thing like singing, or more abstract like management ability. It is about how we embrace it and be content with what we've got, and at the same time, constantly exercise our 'talent' to be the best we can be."