At first, Art was very reluctant to move to NYC to begin modeling. He never thought of himself as a model and not sure if he can succeed. It was his adopted mother, Linda Purdy, who convinced him to go. She told him that it's an opportunity of a lifetime and it does not happen to everybody. WIth his mom blessing and support, Art moved to NYC in March of 1994 to begin working as a male model with an exclusive contract with Storm Models Management.
After moving around from friends to friends, Art finally found a permanent residence on Sullivan St. in Soho sharing an apartment with his friend David Rodgers.
David is a photographer but to pay bills, he worked as a B&W photograph toner at the famous Lexingtion Lab on 23st street. He toned fashion photos for so many famous photographers like Bruce Webber and Herb Ritts. Some of Art's bestphotos were photographed and toned by David like this one (above) called 'My Grandmother's Couch.'
After receiving news from his model friend Zack Hankins about many modeling job opportunity in Bangkok, and wanting to closer to his two great aunts, Art decided to move to Thailand in 1996. It proved to be the best move once again for Art. Unbeknownst to him at the time, this move was to be the move that would change his life beyond his wildest dream.
Thanks to his unique look, muscular body with six pack stomach and being fluent in Thai, Art received a warm welcome into the Thai Fashion World and a steady stream of work in fashion editorials, fashion shows, print ads and commercials.
His first fashion editorial in Thailand was for the August issue of Dichan Magazine. Modeling Dirk Bikemberg latest collection for Axil, Sukhumvit 39, Art was a big hit in his debute effort working as a model in Thailand.
Everybody wanted to know more about the handsome caucasian muscular model with a Thai name. Art decided to use his childhood name Supawatt Aumprasit as his stage name because even though he does not look anything like a Thai person, but he is Thai through and through and proud of it.
The Dirk Bikemberg editorial in Dichan magazine launched Art's modeling career beautifully, giving him the exposure he needed to succeed working in Thailand. Soon after, many calls started to pour in for commercials, fashion shows and fashion editorials. That first year, Art was in high demand, appearing on the pages of all the major fashion magazines of the day like Image, Preow and Praew Sudsubda, just to name a few.
