Natee Utarit

Private Asian Collection

Berlin, Arndt Berlin, Natee Utarit: Illustration of the Crisis, Berlin, Germany, 12 September to 17 October 2012

Richard Koh Fine Arts, Natee Utarit: Illustration of the Crisis, Richard Koh Fine Art, SDN BHD, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2013, 2013, p. 194-195, colorplate

The work is in good condition overall, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. The paint layers are intact and free of discoloration and accretion. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals no sign of restoration. Framed with the artist's original frame, under Plexiglass.
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Within the history of Southeast Asian contemporary art, it should be noted that Thai artists have remained somewhat separate from the art movements that came to define the region’s unique blend of contemporary art. As a country that never experienced the polarizing effects of colonialism, Thailand has the recognition of being the only Southeast Asian country that maintained its independence from foreign rule. This has consequently had a lasting influence upon the formulation of creative expression within the country.

It may be said that without the presence of the “other” as a mirror, Thai artists’ creative vocabulary remains largely fixed in a Thai-centric framework that revolves around religious and sociological themes. A few individuals, however, have been breaking free of this cultural persona. Natee Utarit is one such artist whose body of works does not adhere to one local viewpoint, choosing instead to incorporate Western constructs into the artworks. However this is not a surrendering of aesthetic traditions and paradigms per se, rather it is an embracement of foreign ideologies to enrich the underlying Thai-ness that is present within his oeuvre.

The present work entitled The Bridge alludes to still life paintings, also known as nature morte, that is one of the hallmarks of the Western art canon. By referencing flora and fauna to analyse human existence, this particular type of painting genre served as a visual allegory to educate, as well as philosophize about mankind’s presence in the world. Originating from ancient civilizations’ usage of pictorial symbols that decorated murals and tombs, such as those found in Egypt and Greece, still life paintings gained further precedence during the early Renaissance period and onwards. Christian iconography paired together with everyday objects acted as visual reminders of memento mori, subsequently drawing attention to the viewer’s own mortality. Old master paintings such as Juan Sanchez Cotan’s Still Life with Game Fowl, Jan Davidsz de Heem’s Vase of Flowers, and William Gow Ferguson’s Still Life, all emphasize the transient quality of daily life.

When placed into a contemporary setting, this form of painting genre may be seen as a satirical analysis of human society, the allusions to earthly objects a visual play of truth and grandeur within a materialistic environment. As the artist explained, “There is an interplay between the reality of paintings as physical objects and their truth as images, provided they speak to our reality, cannot easily be distinguished. When we peer into a painting, it is logic and instinct together which dictate whether we should stop and question the reality in front of us or dive headlong into the inner world of the picture”.¹

Natee’s choice usage of the reptile skeleton alongside the white rabbit, together with the toy soldiers and empty frame in the background, are a deliberate grouping of old world imagery appropriated into a present-day scene. At once appearing disconnected from one another, each item independent from its neighbour, the rabbit and fossil juxtaposed with the plastic toys is a symbolic dissection of Thai modernity, the painting laying bare to certain political values and belief systems that fuel the country.

“Some people have told me my works lack the traditional emotions, but to me they have the ‘emotions of materialism’. That is my starting point for emotional content. I try to make a painting as merely another object in everyday life. I think it is a statement also about expressing contemporary (no emotions, simplicity, mass production, reproduction) I want my work to say something that good classical painting denies,” he said.

“In Thai traditional painting, the subjects have always centred on the life of the Buddha. It functions solely as a narrative painting to its origins and its philosophy. I try to cut the subjective out of my work and to deconstruct painting in Thailand where traditional, academic and ‘safe contemporary’ art still rules”.²

Early works from the artist express this want to separate from traditional aesthetics found in Thai contemporary art. Silent Laughing of Monsters/Still Life and Landscape With Approaching Storm, after Rembrandt continue in the vein of the still life genre and classical European paintings. Works that are “...steeped in Western idioms, but on the other [hand], reveal sophisticated strategies which critique that very tradition”.³ A notable influence upon Natee’s still life paintings was Cezanne, for the Post-Impressionist artist “provided an excellent example of a painter whose work shows an awareness of external reality and the reality of art as a physical object”.⁴

When further dissected, it becomes evident that each item in The Bridge has a specific purpose in the narrative. For example the toy soldiers are a reference to the political turmoil that has affected Thailand since 2006. Events that divided the country up into colour-inspired factions, with local artists finding their works now eclipsed by social and political themes. Painted in 2011, The Bridge may be perceived as a pseudo-political work that is a “…dialogue and debate with the canons of established Western painting conventions [as means] to make veiled commentaries on the larger social issues at stake in Thailand”.⁵

The rabbit in The Bridge is another favoured symbol that frequented Natee’s paintings during this period. Celebrated in Asia as the trickster who can outsmart its enemies, slyly cheating death with speed and wit, in the West the rabbit was seen as prey, a symbol for victimhood and sacrifice. In the still life painting genre the animal was paired with other game to highlight the fleeting value of life. The present painting shows the artist redefining the still life aesthetic that populated his earlier works, and placing it deliberately into a socio-political construct. Other works created after the 2006 coup d’état, such as Micro History of Politic no. 2 (The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and Perfection) and Venus of the Crisis, are also reflective of this transition.

Therefore The Bridge is reminiscent of old world thinking wrapped up within contemporary aesthetics. For the painting “reveals the potential of mere things to signify a host of powerful meanings… Through the artist’s choice of [objects], as well as act of purposeful arrangement, they become transformed into characters on his devised stage of the canvas that connote the reality of Thailand today”.⁶

         

¹ Natee Utarit: Survey 1991-2006, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, 2009, pg 160

² Refer to 1, pg. 140-141

³ Natee Utarit: After Painting, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, 2010, pg. 9

⁴ Natee Utarit: Reason and Monsters Project, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, 2002, pg. 4

⁵ Refer to 3, pg. 13

⁶ Refer to 3, pg. 13