There is a phrase that gets used a lot in creative spaces — support local artists — and it has been said often enough that it has started to lose its weight. So we want to be specific about what it means when you buy from Spirit House, because it is not abstract.
Where the money goes
When you buy a print from Spirit House Gallery, the money does three things. It goes to the artist who made the work — directly, without a platform taking a cut, without a marketplace fee, without a percentage disappearing into an algorithm. It keeps the gallery on Walking Street running, which means the space stays open for the community to use. And it puts paint on the tables.
The paint tables are the part of this that matters most to us. Every day — not occasionally, not when we remember to set them up — children and adults come into Spirit House and use them. No booking required. No fee. No expectation that anything produced is any good. Just paint, brushes, paper, and time. That costs money to maintain and the gallery is what funds it.
Who the artists are
Spirit House was founded by two artists who live on Koh Phangan. Ross Silcocks — filmmaker, director of photography, and visual artist from Bristol — has been based on the island since 2019. His work is shaped by the light and landscape here in ways that could not have come from anywhere else. Alfred Charles is a painter and mixed media artist whose practice draws on the visual language of the island alongside broader influences from art history and culture.
Both of them make things here, every day, on an island they have chosen to live on. When you buy their work, you are buying something made by someone with a relationship to a specific place. That is the opposite of a print-on-demand marketplace.
The wider community
Spirit House is also a space for other artists. We have an open submission process — painters, photographers, sculptors, textile artists, and makers of all kinds can apply to show and sell through the gallery. Over time, the catalogue will grow to reflect more of the creative community that has built itself around this island.
Koh Phangan has a real creative scene. It is not widely documented or talked about in the way that Bali's art communities are, or Chiang Mai's. But the artists are here — working quietly, making seriously, building something that has nothing to do with the Full Moon Party. Spirit House is one small part of that.
What buying from us looks like
You browse the catalogue. You choose a print, a size, a frame or no frame. It is made to order — not pulled from a warehouse, not printed speculatively — and shipped worldwide within two to three weeks. You get something original, made by a real person, shipped from a real island, at a price designed to be accessible rather than exclusive.
And somewhere on Walking Street, a child pulls up a chair at the paint table and starts something.
That is what we are trying to build. We are glad to have you as part of it.
— Ross & Alfred, Spirit House Gallery
Walking Street, Koh Phangan · hi@spirithousegallery.com
