Natee Utarit Demetrio Paparoni

NATEE UTARIT Optimism is Ridiculous Contents

Cover and Back Cover First published in Italy in 2017 by Photo Credits Special thanks for their support 6 The Perils of Optimism. Passage to the Song of Truth Skira editore S.p.A. © 2017. DeAgostini Picture Library/ and collaboration to and Absolute Equality, 2014 Palazzo Casati Stampa Scala, Firenze: pp. 14 (top), 76, 102 The Art of Natee Utarit (details) via Torino 61 © 2017. Digital image, The Museum Demetrio Paparoni 20123 Milano of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Art Director Italy Firenze: pp. 14 (bottom), 18, Makati Avenue corner Marcello Francone www.skira.net 124 (bottom) De La Rosa Street, Greenbelt Park, Makati City, 147 © 2017. Foto Austrian Archives/ 1224 Philippines Optimism is Ridiculous Design © All rights reserved by Richard Koh Scala, Firenze: p. 90 Luigi Fiore Fine Art, Singapore © 2017. Foto Joerg P. Anders. © 2017 Skira editore for this edition Editorial Coordination Foto Scala, Firenze/bpk, Bildagentur 241 Writings by the Artist © 2017 Demetrio Paparoni for his Vincenza Russo fuer Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, text Berlin: p. 134 Editing © 2017 Natee Utarit for his works © 2017. Foto Klaus Goeken. 249 Appendix Valeria Perenze and texts Foto Scala, Firenze/bpk, Bildagentur © Joseph Beuys, Juan Muñoz, Layout fuer Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, by SIAE 2017 Antonio Carminati Berlin: p. 82 Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur No. 14 © Man Ray Trust, by SIAE 2017 Jakarta Pusat 10110 - Indonesia © 2017. Foto Scala, Firenze: pp. 8, Translation © Succession Marcel Duchamp 29 (top left), 34, 48, 116 Natalia Iacobelli by SIAE 2016 © 2017. Foto Scala, Firenze/bpk, © Succession Picasso, by SIAE 2017 Iconographical Research Bildagentur fuer Kunst, Kultur © The Andy Warhol Foundation for Paola Lamanna und Geschichte, Berlin: pp. 38, the Visual Arts Inc., by SIAE 2017 108 (bottom) All rights reserved under © 2017. Foto Scala, Firenze / international copyright conventions. Fondo Edifici di Culto - Ministero 51, Waterloo Street #02-06 No part of this book may be dell’Interno: p. 92 (left) Singapore 187969 reproduced or utilized in any form © 2017. Foto Scala, Firenze - su or by any means, electronic or concessione del Ministero dei Beni e mechanical, including photocopying, delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo: recording, or any information storage pp. 52, 78, 92 (right) and retrieval system, without © 2017. Foto The Philadelphia permission in writing from the Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, 2, Jalan Temerloh, publisher. Firenze: p. 29 (top right) Off Jalan Tun Razak, © 2017. Mary Evans/Scala, Firenze: 53200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Printed and bound in Italy. p. 30 (bottom) First edition © 2017. Museo Nacional del Prado ISBN (Skira editore): © Photo MNP / Scala, Firenze: p. 24 978-88-572-3553-0 © 2017 Tate, London / Foto Scala, ISBN (Richard Koh Fine Art): Firenze: p. 124 (top right) 978-88-572-3787-9 © 2017. The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY/ Scala, Firenze: Distributed in USA, Canada, Central p. 60 229, Jalan Maarof & South America by © 2017 The Barnes Foundation: Bukit Bandaraya, Bangsar ARTBOOK | D.A.P. 75 Broad Street p. 28 (top) 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Suite 630, New York, NY 10004, © 2017. The National Gallery, USA. London/Scala, Firenze: pp. 23 (left), Distributed elsewhere in the world 30 (top) A special thank you also to by Thames and Hudson Ltd., 181A © 2017. White Images/Scala, Mr. Boon Hui Tan High Holborn, London WC1V 7QX, Firenze: pp. 28 (bottom), 29 (bottom) Director, Asia Society Museum, New York United Kingdom. © Museo Nacional del Prado, Vice President, Global Arts and Cultural Madrid: p. 22 (left) Programmes, New York © Kunstmuseum Basel: p. 110 for all the exhibition texts © Rijksmuseum Amsterdam: p. 58 Artothek/Archivi Alinari: p. 20 Artothek/Archivi Alinari, Hans Hinz: p. 106 Bridgeman Images: p. 143 (bottom) National Gallery, London, Fine Art Images/Archivi Alinari, Firenze: p. 16 Photo © 2017 Christie’s Images / Photo © Paul Maeyaert / Bridgeman Images: p. 140 Bridgeman Images: p. 124 (top left) Photo Timothy Greenfield-Sanders: p. 253 Photo Krisada Suvichakonpong: pp. 26, 32, 33, 42 (top right), 144 Discordant References

In his paintings from the Optimism is Ridiculous cycle, begun in 2012, Natee Utarit makes dissonant citation the key element of his aesthetics. The series includes landscapes, still lifes, traditional portraits, the artist’s first polyptychs (Faith Means Not Wanting to Know What is True, 2012 and The Confession, 2013), the entire series of The Altarpieces (2014–16), as well as that of Memento Mori (2016). In each of these paintings, Utarit assembles revisited fragments of works of Western art from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centurie¢s and places them within an architectural space defined in accordance with per- The Perils of Optimism spectival canons of Western painting, which he intermingles with iconographic elements from his own culture, icons of modernism and contemporary art and objects and animals with a high symbolic valence. Despite the fact that the entire composition is a visually coherent whole, when examined individually, The Art of Natee Utarit the figures come forth to ultimately create an effect of temporal engulfment in various historical moments, while not interrupting the work’s sense of unity. It is as if each element, with its own historical baggage, emerged from its re- spective time period creating a chaotic vision of the present. By constructing a narrative, and symbolically connoting the subjects by putting them in relation with one another, Utarit achieves a representation that transcends both his own culture and those which he taps into. Consequently, the geographic DEMETRIO PAPARONI and temporal scenery in his paintings is characterized by a language that is highly aware of the effect that the many cultural and spiritual developments throughout history have had on contemporary man. Born in 1970 in Bangkok, Thailand, where he completed his studies and presently works, Utarit does not belong to the vast group of artists who chose to move to a major Western capital and obtain dual citizenship, and whose work is attributable to both their country of origin and their adoptive country. Despite the numerous references made to language, genres and iconographic themes found in European art, his use of discordant references allows him to fuse the analysis of pictorial language with mythical-religious, political and folk narratives, all of which are related to the present day through narrative expedients and philosophical conceptions that create a dyscrasy between language and subject.

7 His interest in the dynamics by which the Occident exerted its influence on Southeast Asia, both in lifestyle and art, has led Utarit to focus his attention on the history of Thailand, the only country in the area which avoided Western colonization. Despite having preserved its political independence, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century Thai society has been influenced by the political and commercial relations maintained with Great Britain, and by the introduction to a Western academic and legislative system. While promoting this change in an attempt to preserve the country’s independence, King Rama IV sought to introduce Eastern Buddhist values to the West, which claimed to merit a hegemonic position due to the superiority of its scientific, technological and cultural acquisitions. Utarit has closely observed the experience of painter and Buddhist monk In Khong, who in the mid-nineteenth century was ap- pointed to paint murals in various Buddhist temples by King Rama IV (1804–1868), with whom he had spent a period of time in the monkhood. At a time in which the Siam was to tirelessly defend itself from the pressures of Western colonization, the Master In Khong adopted a narrative style reminiscent of its European counterpart in order to illustrate certain aspects of Buddhist doctrine. Having no direct knowledge of European art, he relied on reproductions found on labels, postcards and shipping crates for guidance. Hubert and Jan van Eyck In those very years, the end of Japanese isolationism and the reopening of Ghent Altarpiece, 1432 Partial view of the exhibition Optimism Tempera and oil on panel, 350 x 460 cm commerce with the West allowed for the arrival of Japanese artifacts, textiles and upon elements of reflection, every culture has always looked beyond its own is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces St Bavo Cathedral. Ghent prints in Europe, items which fascinated artists who were to start a new course Ayala Museum, Manila, 2017 territorial confines with both interest and suspicion. for European art and which first became fashionable in countries that faced cul- The manner in which faraway cultures are approached has progressively tural exchanges with Japan, or that hosted universal expositions, and later in the changed over the course of the twentieth century, reaching a turning point in entire old continent. the 1980s with the telecommunications revolution, as well as the diffusion of Artists like Manet, Monet, Gauguin, Whistler, Pizarro, Van Gogh, Les satellite TV.1 This milieu placed artists, from both the East and the West, in Nabis and Klimt, among others, took a personal approach to Japanese art, a significantly different condition than that in which they found themselves which led to various outcomes. Just as In Khong had no direct knowledge of between the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the the Western art he sought to reproduce, European artists gained an under- twentieth century. standing of Japanese society and landscapes through magnificent imported In a new millennium, and in quite different political conditions than merchandise and prints, giving life to an imaginary Japan. Van Gogh, for in- those in the times of In Khong, Utarit has been able to develop a narrative stance, was convinced that he had found in Provence, in Southern of France, strategy that, at a formal level, capitalizes on his knowledge of his own culture the same colors of Japanese scenery that he had seen in ukiyo-e prints; Monet of origin as well as that of the West. Just like In Khong, Utarit westernizes also drew inspiration from Japanese prints when fashioning a part of his gar- figurative representations, perfecting them thanks to his intimate knowledge of den in Givenchy, Normandy, which would become the subject of many of the European art which allows him to enrich them with a narrative system charged artist’s paintings. Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Japan, with symbols and metaphors related to their meanings in Western painting. prints and illustrations found in European books were of great interest and Furthermore, just like In Khong, Utarit uses this strategy in order to transmit inspired artists to empirically produce perspectival points of view whose scien- a message associated with the traditional spiritual values of his country, which tific principles were unfamiliar to them. This bears testament to how, drawing he believes must be preserved.

8 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 9 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Partial view of the exhibition Optimism is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces Ayala Museum, Manila, 2017 When Adam Delved and Eve Span, features theological and dogmatic stories and content, such as the mystery of Who Was Then the Gentleman?, 2014, Models for the “Altarpieces” 2 3 polyptych (7 panels) the Trinity, and that of the Eucharist. In order to relate the representation to Oil on canvas, 230 x 735 cm Utarit’s conviction that it is possible to take a figurative representation from a his era, the artist depicts a celestial Jerusalem resembling a Flemish city, dressing historical period between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries and adapt it the subjects with clothing from his time. In addition, he includes the figures of to an artist’s needs in the twenty-first century, making explicit references to the the commissioners, the Vijdts, giving them the same dimensions as the statues dynamics of modern and contemporary art, is based on the premise that a work of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, as well as the depictions of can continue to be enriched and mature in meaning by virtue of its influence the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary.4 upon the works of other artists. To underscore the strong link between that which is transcendent and Utarit’s Altarpieces are modeled after polyptychs from the Flemish Re- that which is earthly, van Eyck includes in his terrestrial paradise a remarkable naissance by Robert Campin, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling, Quentin array of meticulously illustrated botanical species. While Utarit adopts certain Metsys and, specifically, Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece (1432), painted for St. devices used by van Eyck to tailor the scene to his own times, he sets his nar- Bavo Cathedral. Utarit’s Altarpieces are reminiscent of Flemish altarpieces by rative method apart from that of the Flemish master by intermingling temporal virtue of the fact that they are polyptychs, which gives them an architectural and cultural stratifications related to diverse geographic areas. Moreover, while structure, but also due to their use of legends, which provide indications for the temporal dimension expressed by van Eyck is metaphysical, and associated better understanding their symbolism, as well as the architecture of reproduced with both scripture and prophecy, Utarit makes reference to a historical period interiors and their subdivisions into single moments whose meaning is to be that recalls the reality of the present, which over the course of centuries has been understood as a whole. molded by concrete events. Van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece encompasses a complex tale that spans from By making instrumental use of the pictorial languages of different eras, and Adam and Eve’s fall into sin and man’s subsequent redemption thanks to Christ’s by putting images from different origins in relation with one another, Utarit’s sacrifice, to the proclamation of Christ as King of the Universe. This narrative paintings offer a vision of time where all is copresent—where there is no before

12 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 13 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite and after. In this compositional context the objects related to contemporane- When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman?, 2014 ity depicted by the artist play a pivotal role in the interpretation of the work, (detail) insofar as they point entirely to the here and now. Utarit thus puts into play the paradox of a single time in which all coexists, but which also demonstrates how the past has impacted man, how it may have conditioned the present and how it will influence the future. This is the significance of the title of his series of paintings, Optimism is Ridiculous, which expresses the artist’s vision of the future in pessimistic terms. We are a long way from the proactive stance of the artists of the avant-garde who believed that by breaking linguistic ties with the past they could design the future.

When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman?

While Utarit includes two polyptychs in his Optimism is Ridiculous series, his Altarpieces cycle was launched in 2014 with the polyptych When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman?, composed of seven panels. If we interpret When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman? as we would an antique altarpiece, we find Adam and Eve at the two extremes of the work and, making our way towards the center, two skeletons that represent the annulment of pictorial values (evoked by the red turban from Eyck’s self-portrait found here on the head of a skeleton) and religious values (evoked by a chalice Lucas Cranach the Elder Adam and Eve, 1538 that has been knocked over). We also find symbols of regality and power (the Oil on board, 47.5 x 35 cm ermines and the crown) and, at the center of the composition, a representation National Gallery, Prague of the social and cultural disparity imposed by colonization (two nobles, one of whom holds a map of Southeast Asia). At the left of the polyptych, we find Adam whose genitals are covered by a leaf. His nude body looks as though it has been sculpted from having fre- quented the gym more so than from the hard work symbolically alluded to by the hoe which he leans against. Depicted in the classic asymmetrical contrapposto pose, with one leg supporting the weight of his body, while the other remains relaxed, and with one arm bent and the other extended, he explicitly recalls Lucas Cranach the Elder’s representation of Adam from 1528. The tattoo found on Adam’s arm disqualifies the image from the univocal interpretation that could be made if one were to solely consider it a reference to Cranach’s work. The leaf covering his private parts is the classic fig leaf that has been widely featured in representations throughout history. Yet, Utarit paints it as if it had not been included in the original composition of the painting, as if it had been added at a later time, transforming it into a sort of censorial patch job. The leaf that conceals the genital area reminds us how in the past male and female nudity was the object of censorship in works of sacred subject matter. As we will have a chance to see Marcel Duchamp ahead, this is a recurring them in Utarit’s poetics. In Advance of the Broken Arm, 1964 (fourth version, after lost original of November 1915) On the right-hand side of the polyptych a nude Eve, whose gaze is directed Wood and galvanized-iron snow shovel, h 132 cm toward the observer, is presented as a woman of our times. Behind her, and quite Museum of Modern Art, New York out of context with respect to the surrounding Ancient scenery, is Duchamp’s easily-recognizable Bicycle Wheel, the first of the artist’s readymades, which he created in 1913 by overturning the wheel of a bicycle and fastening its fork to

14 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 15 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite a painted wooden kitchen stool. In Utarit’s polyptych the shape of Duchamp’s When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman?, 2014 piece alludes to a spinning wheel, a device used to unravel skeins of yarn and (detail) to spin thread. The identification of Duchamp’s readymade behind Eve invites us to recognize the shovel Adam leans against as another readymade, the first to be created in New York: a simple snow shovel with a metal laminate wrapped around its handle that reads “In advance of the broken arm (from) Marcel Duchamp, 1915”. Duchamp conceived the work as a suspended sculpture which he hung from the ceiling of his studio. These objects, which the artist claimed to have chosen due to their ability to leave the observer indifferent, subvert the traditional idea of beauty. According to Duchamp’s conception, nothing fascinating was to be at the heart of his readymades, which were auto-legitimized as works only by virtue of the emotions they were able to evoke in the spectators once they were presented in spaces designated for art. This turning point in the conception of art, launched by Duchamp, suggests that it is no longer necessary for an artist to know how to paint or sculpt. Rather, he must know how to expand the meaning of a pre-existing object or image with a simple manipulation or through a title that obliges the spectator to question its significance. This aesthetic vision expresses an unwavering refusal of painting. For Utarit to place Adam and Eve alongside readymades suggests that the artist finds in the work of Duchamp, who in the 1920s abandoned his paintbrush and canvas, the original sin that led to the death of painting. In other words, When Adam Delved and Eve Spain, Who Was Then the Gentleman? reveals that, just as eating the forbidden fruit drove Adam and Eve to a mortal state, giving in to the temptation of substituting the representation of the object with the actual object itself drove many artists from the twentieth century to pursue the gradual nullification of pictorial language. Behind the two progenitors, Utarit incorporates Re- naissance architecture that extends to the adjacent panels, where we encounter two skeletons depicted in the foreground. The skeleton to Adam’s left, shown frontally, wears a red cloth around his head, a detail reminiscent of the subject of Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) (1433) by Flemish artist Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck, which is thought to be the artist’s self-portrait. Utarit makes Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?), 1433 Oil on oak, 26 x 19 cm explicit reference to van Eyck in order to reiterate the influence which the National Gallery, London Flemish master’s piece has on his work. Reducing van Eyck’s self-portrait to a skeleton (that is, even less than a cadaver) emphasizes how from Impressionism and Cubism onwards, by constantly questioning itself, painting has progressively shadowed the world view linked to the reproduction of truth, just as this view developed with oil painting in the fifteenth century in Northern Europe. Accordingly, the skeleton whose back is turned to us and whose elbow rests on a scale near an overturned chalice exemplifies the chasm in the secular rapport between culture and religion.

16 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman?, 2014 (detail)

Marcel Duchamp Bicycle Wheel, 1951 (third version, after lost original of 1913) Metal wheel mounted on painted wood stool, 129.5 x 63.5 x 41.9 cm Museum of Modern Art, New York Opposite According to Utarit, the profound and rapid changes that interested When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman?, 2014 Western culture and society, and currently influence Thai society, are worth (detail) examining in order to avoid the pursuit of models that will ultimately generate dissatisfaction and unhappiness. The scope of the nullification of one’s cultural identity is evoked by the large ostrich skeleton, an animal that proverbially hides its head in the sand, and that seems to have been transformed here into an extinct animal. The ostrich skeleton appears to retract itself, leaving in the foreground a colonial house, an emblem of British aesthetic ideals that infiltrated and put down its roots in Thai society. The central panel of When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman? is modeled after The Ambassadors (1533) by Hans Holbein the Younger, a panel slightly over 2 x 2 meters, and abounding in symbols. The work was created in a historical moment in which Europe aspired towards the exploration and conquest of faraway lands with the aid of the technological instruments featured in the painting. Among the effects of these conquests were the theft of enormous amounts of riches and the forced imposition of foreign religious and cultural elements upon colonized peoples, a recurring theme in Utarit’s work. Holbein immortalizes the encounter between Georges de Selve (right) and Jean de Dinteville (left). The former, a humanist, theologian, translator of Plutarch, patron, diplomat and Bishop of Lavaur, belonged to a wealthy family which, thanks to his father, was able to ascend to nobility from the mercantile class. His friend Jean de Dinteville, the ev- Hans Holbein the Younger er-faithful ambassador to King Francis I of France, who was in London during The Ambassadors, 1533 Oil on oak, 207 x 209.5 cm the years of the Schism between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic National Gallery, London Church, was presumably the commissioner of the painting. Holbein thus illustrates a political-religious turning point in sixteenth-century Europe as well as the strain of diplomacy in order to mend the additional rift that was forming in the Christian world. The subjects in the work are two representatives of a cultured and refined society in which man feels as though he is the architect of his own destiny, but where faith still plays a central role. The clothing worn by the two men indicates the high social class to which they belong, though the clergyman’s attire appears to be more modest. Young and vigorous—the inscriptions on the dagger’s sheath as well as on a book reveal that de Dinteville is twenty-nine years old, and de Silva twenty-three—each figure rests their forearm on a piece of furniture comprised of two shelves and brimming with symbolic objects. The top shelf is covered by an Anatolian rug and features a celestial globe, as well as astronomical instruments used to measure time, calculate the position of celestial bodies, determine the altitude of the sun above the horizon and gauge orientation. On the bottom shelf are musical instruments, a terrestrial globe, a book of mathematics and a hymn

20 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Pompeo Batoni Giovanni Battista Moroni Francis Basset, 1st Baron of Dustanville, Portrait of a Left-Handed Gentleman 1778 with Two Quartos and a Letter Oil on canvas, 221 x 157 cm (“Il Gentile Cavaliere”), c. 1564–65 Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid Oil on canvas, 100.4 x 81.2 cm National Gallery, London When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman?, 2014 When Adam Delved and Eve Span, (detail) Who Was Then the Gentleman?, 2014 (detail)

book. Holbein accentuates the theme of colonization by tracing across the globe subject, create a setting reminiscent of the Grand Tour, an educational trip found on the bottom shelf the journey of Magellan who in 1519, with the help which between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries brought young Euro- of an astronomer, was able to circumnavigate the Earth. The same globe bears pean aristocrats, starting with Englishmen, around Europe. This instructional the name Polisy, the French city where Ditenville had his castle. The numerous trip included a fundamental leg in Italy, due in part to the country’s wealth of objects reproduced in this composition serve to showcase how European civi- architectonic and artistic masterpieces. These lengthy and costly travels were lization was cultured, scientifically advanced and a herald of superior values in initially financially supported and encouraged by the Royal Houses that placed the world—all topics that aimed to legitimize Western Christianity’s aspirations emphasis on the education of their ruling class in order to guarantee a position to conquer. of cultural—and consequently, political—hegemony.5 The dynamics through In the upper left-hand corner of the painting we catch a glimpse of a cru- which cultural hegemony is attained is a theme that has moved Utarit to create cifix that is barely visible as it lurks behind the heavy drapery of green brocade. numerous works, making it one of the most significant topics of his poetics. In the foreground, at the bottom of the work, the perspectival deformation of an This theme emerges especially in his portraits of dwarfs and in the series of object manifests itself as a skull only when seen from a precise lateral viewpoint, altarpieces which comprise the cycle Optimism is Ridiculous. transforming the entire scene into a memento mori. This revelation compels the In Batoni’s Neoclassical portrait, Francis Basset, the young nobleman observer to reconsider the symbolism of each object in the composition and to sporting a red jacket, who would become Baron of Dunstanville, holds a topo- reflect on the concepts of illusoriness and transitoriness. graphic map of the city, which emphasizes his status as a traveler. Conversely, An exact description of Holbein’s painting is essential for an accurate the gentleman depicted by Utarit holds a map of Southeast Asia which, like understanding of the central panel of Utarit’s work which, despite featuring Holbein’s globe, projects the narrative into a different dimension and recalls modified elements from other past European works, makes explicit reference a different type of traveler: the European colonist. In front of him is a dwarf to it by and large. with dark skin and Asian features who plays an accordion. An entertainer in The two central figures depicted by Utarit are modeled after Portrait seventeenth-century clothing, he is reminiscent of Diego Velázquez’s repre- of a Left-Handed Gentleman with Two Quartos and a Letter (c. 1564–65) by sentation of the court of Philip IV of Spain, where dwarfs would offer their sixteenth-century Italian painter Giovanni Battista Moroni as well as Francis services in exchange for the King’s benevolence, and where their presence was Basset, 1st Baron of Dustanville (1778) by eighteenth-century Italian painter a sign of luxury and prestige. Pompeo Batoni, who is considered to be an inspiration for a large portion In the Spanish court dwarfs were a source of amusement for the aristoc- of English portraiture. Utarit takes the bas-relief pedestal upon which the racy. At the same time, precisely because of their condition, they were allowed gentlemen rest in Batoni’s painting, as well as the sculpted frieze at his feet, certain liberties that were denied to others within the court, such as joking and and recontextualizes them. These two elements, along with the Roman land- mocking those in power. The figure of the dwarf taken from Velázquez and scape which features St. Peter’s Basilica and Castel Sant’Angelo behind the recontextualized with Asian physical characteristics has a distinguished quality

22 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 23 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Diego Velázquez to him. He does not appear to resent his condition as a court entertainer and Portrait of Francisco Lezcano, 1635–40 Oil on canvas, 106.5 x 81.5 cm displays a dignity that, in reality, he has been denied. He thus becomes the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid symbol of the humiliation to which colonized populations were subjected by Diego Velázquez conquerors, the effects of which are perceived to this day in the relationship Portrait of Sebastián de Morra, 1644 Oil on canvas, 106. x 82.5 cm with the Western world. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid By creating a redundancy effect, every last detail of Utarit’s work emphasizes the theme of cultural hegemony and how it is the preferred vehicle for instituting a sort of psychological dependence. In the composition, a monkey is perched on Ai Weiwei’s sculpture Divine Proportion and tips its hat to one of the two gentlemen, inviting us to adopt a less reverential attitude toward new forms of Western cultural colonization. Ai Weiwei’s sculpture also confronts the topic of the subjugation of Asian culture by the Western world. Its structure is inspired by a design by Leonardo which aims to express the geometric perfection and harmony of classical figures. Made of Huali wood using the traditional interlocking joinery techniques characteristic of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), it becomes a form of decoration, devoid of utility; a metaphor for the traditional skills in ancient China borrowed by Western cultures and by serial production. Furthermore, the monkey is a symbol of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, at odds with Creationism which was at the foundation of Judeo-Christian culture, and perceived by

Opposite many as a threat to their faith. When Adam Delved and Eve Span, The title of the work, When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Who Was Then the Gentleman?, 2014 (detail) Then the Gentleman? is a phrase from a passionate sermon by John Ball,

24 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT an English presbyter from the fourteenth century who came from a peasant background and never missed an opportunity to attack the feudal system that institutionalized slavery and the exploitation of peasants, who were reduced to glebe servants. Based on social egalitarianism and criticized even by the institutions of the Catholic Church, his sermons contributed to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. The phrase that comprises the title of the work was for Ball a way to prove that if God had wanted to create a world which was divided into servants and masters he would have done so from the beginning of time. It was an invitation to join the rebellion in the name of God. Like Utarit’s other altarpieces, When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentle- man? refers to the condition in which humanity is divided into oppressors and the oppressed.

The Model and the Theater

Drawing from the language and formal expedients of very different authors in order to forge his personal lexicon, Utarit moves beyond the notion of discordant references. His objective is to give life to an original commingling of languages which derive from different experiences in order to express content that is both complex and ambiguous, as we have seen, as well as to analyze the modalities through which European art exerts a power of attraction in relation to postcolonial Asia. When creating his paintings Utarit dresses Photo shoot in the artist’s studio his models in clothing of the era and theatrical costumes, which he purchases at the Paris flea market or on Ebay, or that he has custom made in Bangkok. In We Are Asia, 2012 completed few studies on paper, and accounts for the reduced dimensions of Oil on linen, 150 x 100 cm order to reproduce them, he uses animal skeletons and taxidermies purchased paintings by Vermeer, which were influenced by the specific camera obscura We Are Asia No. 3, 2013 at Deyrolle, the historic Parisian specialty shop for scientists and collectors. As Oil on linen, 150 x 100 cm he used. was customary in European art between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, The verisimilitude of a representation was often directly related to the Utarit creates partial scenes which he then assembles in the composition. At need to elucidate the status of individuals and the value of things. In many past the same time, he uses still photographs in order to bring into focus the chiar- works in Western art the portrayal of luxurious clothing, the sophistication oscuro and the contrast between light and shadow. of brocades, the preciousness of silver and china and the richness of meals The artist’s recourse to theater, typical of Western art, stems from his were testimony to the economic and social condition of the commissioner of awareness that regardless of the amount of effort put forth, the mind is not the work, and illustrated a view of the world. The perfection of oil painting, capable of faithfully reconstructing an object, let alone a complex scene. Before which is able to exalt tactile values, along with the choice of subjects, reflects the advent of photography, theater provided artists with the opportunity to a society founded on the trade and ownership of goods. Verisimilitude in the make modifications to their works. While artists like Velázquez, Caravaggio, pictorial styles of societies that are pleased with their own power defines the Ribera and Gentileschi relied on theater, others such as Tintoretto, El Greco represented reality as something that can become an object of exchange and and Poussin turned to plastic models and objects made of wax, clay or wood that can be owned. With these considerations in mind, Utarit readopts a visual reproduced as closely as possible, which they utilized as a model. In addition to language related to Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical culture while filling theater, many artists used a camera obscura, which projected an image through the scene with subjects and objects which, on a purely visible level, as well as a mirror system. The way in which artists relate to their model determines symbolically and metaphorically, manifest a view of the world that from the the nature of the work, which would explain why Caravaggio and Velázquez past projects itself onto the present. For the artist, the intermingling of these

26 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 27 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT languages amounts to criticizing the value that today’s global society attributes Lucas Cranach the Elder Adam and Eve, c. 1528–30 to merchandise—including works of art—and its use, both past and present, Oil on panel, 25 x 38 cm in order to underscore social, political and cultural hierarchies. For Utarit, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp theater is not only a place in which an artist is able to correctly define propor- Man Ray Ciné-Sketch: Adam and Eve (Marcel tions, perspective, chiaroscuro, the roundness of shapes and the relationship Duchamp and Bronia Perlmutter), 1924 between light and shadow. It is an integral part of a pictorial procedure that Gelatin silver print, image and sheet, 28.2 x 21.7 cm; mount 32.3 x 25.8 cm encompasses the values of the society by which it was produced; it is the place Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia in which objects are charged with ideological meaning. Accordingly, precious artifacts, clothing, furniture and anything that might have demonstrated cul- Gustave Courbet Woman with White Stockings, 1846 tural and scientific supremacy played a crucial role in the art of the past. Oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm Utarit reminds us that our relationship with art objects has gradually The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia transformed into a sort of religion which turns museums and other designated places in the art market, such as auction galleries, into temples that legitimize the sacredness of objects whose task is to foster the self-worth and superiority of the community in possession of them. In fact, Utarit treats his altarpieces The Private Expectation of God and the Common Reason of Investment and Nescientia as liturgical instruments, and includes in them the auction paddles used in the bidding ritual to increase the cultural value of a work. objects or a Cubist painting, for instance, could not be considered art. While the trajectory from the Classical period to Romanticism appears to be linear, Art, Merchandise and the God the continuity with different forms of conceptualism begun by Duchamp and of the Western World different forms of abstraction launched by Kandinsky, Mondrian and Ma- levich—that is, the progressive tendency to abandon representation—is not In the past, works such as Holbein’s Ambassadors, which Utarit alludes to in equally evident. Rather than to proceed down the path of narration, Modern When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman?, were in- art was used in order to call attention to art itself through a process of self-crit- terpreted on different levels. Some solely appreciated their aesthetic appearance, icism, which brought into question artistic methods, techniques and languages. while others drew a superficial narrative, or perhaps a more complex narrative, Although the twentieth century was complex and characterized by dif- or even the philosophical, political or theological conceptions found in a work. ferent artistic languages and contrasting tendencies that did not see figuration Today the environment in which a work arose must be reconstructed in order entirely diminish in importance, when narrative, figuration was considered to better understand what its author wished to express. Duchamp deprived his to be unrelated to the “spirit of the times”; that is, not representative of the works of their retinal worth in order to bring meaning alone into focus, without true demands of the era. In the mid-twentieth century, figurative art was of- the distraction of form. Utarit’s paintings leave us wondering if after a century ten marginalized under the rationale that narration was a prerogative of lit- of postDuchampian art it is still necessary to strip an artwork down, showing erature, not art. This theory does not repudiate representation, but rather Marcel Duchamp only its skeleton, in order to reach the core of its essence. This, however, does Marcel Duchamp the associations tied to representative objects, spatial illusionism, chiaroscuro Selected Details after Courbet, 1968 Selected Details After Rodin, 1968 Etching and aquatint on paper, not imply that Utarit wishes to minimize Duchamp’s role within the history Etching on paper, 50.5 x 41.7 cm and, consequently, three-dimensionality, which was considered to lie within 42 x 25.5 cm of art, as we shall soon see. the domain of sculpture, not painting.6 Understandably, then, a painting that The spinning wheel behind Eve in When Adam Delved and Eve Span, repudiates spatial illusionism and the three-dimensionality of shapes can only Who Was Then the Gentleman?, which Utarit substitutes with Duchamp’s bi- be anti-naturalistic. cycle wheel, creates a conceptual short circuit that evokes Duchamp’s strategy If we can agree that the characteristics of Modernism are those just de- of playing with words and images in an attempt to change their meaning. As im- scribed, it would seem clear that in Modernist terms Utarit can be considered probable as it may seem, Utarit’s aesthetics are not unrelated to the dynamics of a heretic. He is not an isolated case; we need only think of the work of artists Modernism, and Duchamp’s thinking in particular. Utarit distances himself from such as Michaël Borremans or John Currin. At the same time, the modalities Duchamp when it comes to the use of naturalistic painting, but not with respect with which Utarit creates a shift in the meaning of images that come from to the strategy of creating a shift in the meaning of images that come from afar. afar are not unrelated to those used by Duchamp in his work. For instance, Twentieth-century art—that of the historical avant-garde of the early Duchamp created works that alluded to Adam and Eve by Cranach the Elder, 1900s and the post avant-garde of the second half of the century—is considered an artist whose work he saw in 1912 in Munich and subsequently in Vienna, to be in continuity with the history of art, despite presenting a radical turning Dresden and Leipzig. Duchamp’s admiration for Cranach was so great that point in the linguistic sphere. Yet, from this perspective, one of Duchamp’s he evoked his slender figures in his Large Glass7 and played the part of Ad-

28 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 29 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT am in 1924 in a tableau vivant featured in the Dada-inspired ballet Relache,8 conceived by Francis Picabia as a parody of bourgeois drama.9 As testified in a photograph by Man Ray, Duchamp appears to be nude, with a beard and a fig leaf covering his private parts, evocative of paintings of Adam and Eve by the German master. In the tableau vivant Eve, interpreted by Bronia Perlmut- ter, one of Poiret’s10 models, conceals her pubic region with one hand, while offering an apple to Adam with the other. Behind them, a snake painted on a tarp personifies the maleficent force which in Christian iconography causes the violation of divine law. In 1967, Duchamp created nine etchings on the theme of lovers,11 seven of which were inspired by erotic works by painters Cranach, Rodin, Ingres and Courbet. The etching entitled Selected Details after Cranach is redolent of the tableau vivant of the ballet Relache. In keeping with his own logic, Duchamp does not adopt the language of the artist to whom he refers, but rather he recaptures the image in its essence only to change its meaning, just as when he turns a urinal upside down and makes it a fountain. For instance, in the etching Selected Details after Rodin, inspired by Auguste Rodin’s sculpture The Kiss, the artist draws the image using very few markings and moves the man’s hand from outside of the woman’s thigh to inside, heightening the sexual implications which are already innate to Rodin’s sculpture. Something similar occurs in the other etchings of this collection. In the print dedicated to Courbet’s Woman with White Stockings, which belongs to the same cycle, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Duchamp adds a bird observing the woman as she removes her stockings. Boy Bitten by a Lizard, 1594–95 Oil on canvas, 66 x 49.5 cm Here, Duchamp takes advantage of the sound of the French word “faucon” National Gallery, London (falcon), which can be perceived as “faux con” (false vulva), indicating that in his etching there is both a true sex (that of the woman painted by Courbet) and a false sex (the falcon). While at a formal level recourse to realistic painting creates an abysmal distance between the two, Utarit’s work is not foreign to the expressive expedients and irony Duchamp used to modify and amplify the meaning of an image. Specifically, Utarit adopts Duchamp’s art of mockery and irony which, by accentuating the role of pictorial technique abhorred by the French artist, lead him to discredit the very work of Duchamp himself. This desecratory tendency is clear in Nickel, a small painting by Utarit from 2012, which he created two relatively similar versions of, and which belongs to the cycle Optimism is Ridiculous. The artist paints his own hand which is shown balancing a 2 euro coin on its middle finger. Unable to pose and paint Quentin Matsys simultaneously, he uses a photograph as his model. Utarit paints this subject The Money Changer and His Wife, 1514 Oil on panel, 70.5 x 67 cm by drawing inspiration from Caravaggio’s Boy Bitten by a Lizard (1594–95), in Nickel, 2012 Oil on linen, 40 x 50 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris which a young boy with effeminate traits and whose face is marked by an expression of pain and surprise reveals the bitten hand with which he has attempted to snatch fruit. In Caravaggio’s representation, the boy’s fingers are extended and the middle finger bent; conversely, in Nickel the hand’s middle finger is extended while the other fingers are slightly bent. The lightness with which the hand is elongated is highly suggestive of the grace of Renaissance paintings as well as certain sacred representations, in which the task of expounding a message was entrusted to symbolic gestures.

30 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 31 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT We need only think of Christ’s raised hand during the act of a blessing, or of Several years after painting The Money Changer and His Wife, Matsys turned mudras, ritual gestures in representations of Buddha. Yet, as graceful as the to the grotesque in order to describe a society he found to be brutalized and pose of the hand in Utarit’s painting might seem, the extended middle finger deformed. In his painting Suppliant Peasants in the Office of Two Tax Collectors refers to a current symbol that contains an unmistakably profane and irrever- (1520), the index finger of an elderly man with a grim expression touches coins, ent message. It appears to be a mockery of something that is considered sacred; while with his other hand he hypocritically leafs through a prayer book. The a blasphemous gesture for worshipers of money. Congruent with Utarit’s environment of the painting is similar to that of the money changer, though poetics, the irreverent gesture towards European currency the space in the composition is tighter as it is crowded by four subjects and traces the discussion back to the criticism of Western values, ledgers on the shelves. Despite its complexity, the narrative in these paintings is which has made free trade its god. The theme of placing executed in a single episode, while sufficiently expressing a view of the world. money at the center of everything, especially when of du- The negative effects of a tainted relationship with money on the lives of bious provenance, was already taken into consideration in individuals is a recurrent theme in the history of art. The apotheosis of criticism medieval times by European artists who reserved a special of a system that gives an exorbitant value to goods can be found in the work of place in portrayals of Hell for the avaricious, the usurers Marcel Duchamp, who came to produce art which, by not setting out to attract, and the barrators. avoids having to create the desire to be possessed. In fact, the commercialization During the Renaissance, when nations that possessed of his objects occurred much later than their creation, so much so that a large fleets or that were able to finance expeditions saw in the dis- part of his readymades on the market were copies of the originals that had gone covery of new routes the possibility to expand their wealth missing due to the very detachment of the artist towards his own work. Just as and their areas of influence, art prospered in the very port Van Gogh’s work had been long hindered by the misuse of his original brush cities where there was an influx of large quantities of goods strokes by the Sunday painters, Duchamp’s work was misunderstood due to the and money. Some artists conveyed in their works the appre- numerous artists who plundered it. This phenomenon was so significant that it hensions felt with respect to the transformations taking place brought Picasso to declare that contemporary artists are “ransacking Duchamp’s in society as it gravitated towards new values that would warehouse and changing the packaging”.12 also have an impact on religious sentiment. This anxiety, for What emerges from the works of Duchamp and of those who followed example, shines through in the painting The Money Changer in his footsteps is a society in which consumer products and merchandise and His Wife (1514) by Flemish painter Quentin Matsys, who progressively assumed a role that had previously been reserved for religious had also previously painted a Lamentation of Christ for the objects. Artists such as Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons not only bear witness Antwerp Cathedral. to Duchamp’s influence, they also prove his foresight. It is worth noting that The work by Matsys depicts an exchanger from Ant- when defining luxurious objects or famous characters we use the expression werp, a large commercial port, weighing coins from different “icon,” a term that unequivocally refers to an image in the Christian tradition. parts of the world as he sits alongside his wife, who leafs To extend its usage to objects and images entirely unrelated to the sacred realm through a prayer book, but whose attention is drawn to the activity of her husband. The man’s slightly bent pinky fin- Mudra Buddha teaching gesture, Thailand ger holds a small scale he uses to weigh the coins. The scene Bronze, 29 x 12 x 16 cm is notionally divided into two parts: on the left side of the Natee Utarit Collection Netikorn Chinyo work are the coins, valuables and scales, while on the brighter right side is a Standing Buddha. Preacher, 2010 Fiber, 54 x 26 x 20 cm convex mirror, which reflects the tower of the Antwerp Cathedral, and the Natee Utarit Collection prayer book. The other objects on the shelves behind the married couple refer both to the materialist conception of life and to that of religion. The fruit, for instance, represents sin, while the flameless candle represents death. The narrative is therefore also a memento mori. The man’s hand touches money; it assesses its weight but not it provenance. The painting thus expresses the worry over the corruption of religious values, replaced by the misconception that money brings happiness. Like Holbein, Matsys was a friend of theologian and humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, whose portrait he would later paint, and who he looked to as a moral reference point. Erasmus expressed a profound disapproval of a society in which everything—even indulgences—had become an object of commerce.

32 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 33 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Hubert and Jan van Eyck Faith Means Not Wanting to Know Ghent Altarpiece, 1432 (closed) What is True, 2012, Tempera and oil on panel, 375 x 260 cm polyptych (12 panels) St Bavo Cathedral, Ghent Oil on linen, 463 x 298 cm

testifies to the range achieved by merchandise (or by the merchandising of an image) in our lives, in which representations of religious figures have progressively diminished. For centuries, Christian art has found its most magnificent form in fres- coes and polyptychs. Utarit adopts the formal structure and dimensions of Christian altarpieces insofar as he identifies in them a synthesis of the religious and ideological conceptions of the Western world. In addition to the religious narrative which it is an instrument of, an altarpiece contains the world view of the society which produced it, the power and wealth of those who commissioned it, the mediation of the artist with the client, as well as the technical and intellectual abilities of the artist, which speak to the degree to which a community has evolved.

34 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 35 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Partial view of the exhibition Optimism is Ridiculous Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore, 2013 While Utarit adopts the symbolic-metaphorical framework of the formal The First Altarpieces structure of altarpieces, he substitutes their biblical narrative with his own, with the intention of generating reflection on the new objects and simulacra of devo- By infusing his political and existential ideas, as well as Buddhist philosophy, tion, as metaphysical concerns are no longer at the center of our thinking. His in the altarpiece, and by expressing notions of the Eastern speculative tradition altarpieces testify to how faith in capitalism and in the redeeming power of money with the language of Western art history, Utarit gives life to an expressive form has become for many an alternative to faith in God. Preconditions of this risk were that is syncretic only in appearance. The work reveals a patent conflict between already present in fourteenth-century Western society, which saw the ascension of the meaning and content evoked by images clearly deriving from Western the mercantile class. The Money Changer and His Wife by Metsys, from the early art and the meaning and content of Utarit’s poetics. To redirect the narrative fifteenth century, examines this very topic in relation to the religious conceptions from the passive acceptance of Western models to the formal dynamics of the of the era. Like other representations of the same subject matter, this painting altarpiece highlights the relationship between Christianity and the concept reveals that God was unquestionably present in the minds of all, and that society of faith within the history of colonization. In other words, by unveiling in did not intend to renounce his merciful ways. For this his altarpieces a world parallel to that which is described in Sacred Christian reason, when faced with morally unorthodox behav- art, Utarit accentuates the reverence with which Southeast Asia has looked ior, people were always able to find a way to appear and continues to look to the West as a result of the sense of inferiority that respectful of divine law. Every society thus designed develops in populations that have experienced colonization. It is this sense of a God in its own image and likeness. inferiority that leads to the acceptance—through faith, and not through a true In dealing with the connection between capi- understanding—of behaviors and ways of life that are different from one’s own. talism and Christianity, and by making reference to One of the two first altarpiece experiments draws inspiration from a tale the history of Thailand and the effects of Colonial from the Hitopadesha, a collection of popular Sanskrit moral fables from be- politics in Southeast Asia, Utarit adopts the thinking tween the ninth and tenth centuries AD, which are attributed to the author of historian Michael Wright (1940–2009), according Narayan. Like many moral tales, the protagonists in Narayan’s fables are an- to whom the influence of Western thought was estab- imals who adopt human behaviors. Faith Means Not Wanting to Know What lished in the world by the concept of an omnipotent is True alludes to the tale whose protagonists are a jackal, a gazelle and a crow, God who influences history and the destiny of man, as well as the tale centered on a vulture, birds and a cat. Both fables, which are an idea that is foreign to Eastern religions that inter- interconnected and found in the first book of the Hitopadesha, are based on the preted sacred narratives as philosophical allegories. inherent risks of trusting strangers who present themselves as friends. When questioning the fact that there is no The anecdote involving the vulture, birds and cat is about an old blind such thing as a single God who is able to respond vulture with no claws who lives in a large fig tree along the Ganges River. Jan Metsys to the spiritual and intellectual needs of different populations, Wright stresses The vulture is fed out of compassion by the other birds living in the tree, and At the Tax Office, 1539 Oil on oak board, 85 x 115 cm that the diffusion of religion found its preferred vehicle in war and territo- returns the favor by guarding their baby birds. One day, he is tricked by a cat Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche rial expansion. “For Asians,” he writes, “in the years following the colonial who introduces himself as a charitable creature and convinces the vulture that Kunstsammlungen, Dresden period, God was a physical presence. He had the power to make the change he wishes to benefit from his profound knowledge of religion. The cat is thus that local ancient deities were unable to withstand. This God is embodied by invited into the tree hole and, day after day, takes the baby birds to his den to nothing other than the West. Armed with state-of-the-art military technology, devour them. Upon returning to their nest, the birds begin to frantically search the West declared itself the God of the future—a God able to impose life and for their babies. When all they find are bones, they are convinced that it was death upon the vast majority of the world’s population—a power that has re- the vulture who devoured them, and so they kill him. The vulture commits mained uncontested to this day […] It is only within the sphere of Christian the error of making his home available to someone whose story and nature he theology that we have been reluctant to follow in the footsteps of the West is unfamiliar with. and, unable to seize the nature of the Christian faith, we remain ignorant of Intent on making metaphors the driving force behind his art, Utarit as- the philosophy that lays the foundations for the Western institutions that we signs a specific meaning to all components of his paintings, allowing each detail have adopted.” The historian concludes that, among the consequences of this to contribute to creating a sort of redundancy effect when seen as a whole, all, the very Asians who adopted Western customs “were afflicted by feelings whereby he directs the narrative back to his initial premises. In order to em- of embarrassment and discomfort surrounding their own identity.”13 phasize the risks brought about by ignorance, which leads to the overvaluing All that an Asian can do, Wright concludes, is to stop and reflect on the or undervaluing of situations, things and people, Utarit inserts certain verses nature of the God of the West, who requests that we have faith in the West. In from the Hitopadesha in the lateral lunettes of Faith Means Not Wanting to On pages 40–41 seizing Wright’s invitation, this is exactly what Utarit does in his paintings from Know What is True: “Where there are no men of learning, even small minds Still Life of Death and Honor, 2012 Oil on linen, 100 x 140 cm the series Illustration of the Crisis and Optimism is Ridiculous. are esteemed” and “Like castor shrubs, without discerning, in desert wastes as

38 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 39 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT

The Golden Crown, 2010 trees are deemed.” These phrases refer to the cultural colonization of Southeast Bronze with gold gilding, lifesize Edition of 6 Asia and assume a specific meaning in relation to the behavior of both the

Photo shoot in the artist’s studio colonized and the colonizer. The images found on the underlying panels—the Photo Krisada Suvichakonpong frail fig plant and plaster statues—are, as we will see, a visual commentary on these two phrases. Next to the upper panels containing scrolls, separated by frames typical of Renaissance polyptychs, Utarit depicts a black skull crowned by a golden mandible and a leather travel trunk from which poke out Western- ized banknotes, above which reads a phrase by Mahatma Gandhi: “God has no religion.” This quote allows Utarit to include within the narrative of his altarpiece both philosophical and religious content that is unrelated to that of Christian altarpieces. The presence of the trunk with banknotes at the top of the polyptych creates a short circuit with the original meaning of an altarpiece. In fact, in Utarit’s altarpiece, the location of the trunk is that which in Christian altarpieces is generally given to the figure of God the Father, or to Christ. By putting the trunk in God’s place, Utarit underscores how the West has placed God at the same level as money, which in the Catholic world is defined as “the Devil’s excrement,” highlighting its maleficent side. This expression was coined around the third century by the Fathers of the Church and is still used today when emphasizing money’s corruptive power and its ability to generate conflict.

Opposite Utarit stresses how in the Western world between the fifteenth and six- Faith Means Not Wanting to Know teenth centuries, when the world market underwent a significant expansion What is True, 2012 (detail) due to geographic discoveries, money assumed an ever-growing importance,

42 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT such that it shaped new values which contradicted the principles of charity and respect for the poor, preached by Christianity. In addition, this new view of the economy had an influence within the theological sphere, and led both society and the Church to adapt their interpretations of scripture to the needs of the new dominant social classes. When related to Utarit’s iconography the matter is not limited to the religious realm and ends up inevitably recalling the Marxist analysis of “the fetishism of commodities.” According to Marx, the fetishism of commodities does not arise by attributing sacredness to objects as such, but rather to a system based on the Victor Dubreuil exchange of goods and to its corresponding set of rules. This vision transcends Basket of Money, c. 1870 Oil on canvas, 24.5 x 30.5 cm the nature of the objects themselves, whose value is found in the ability to Private collection, USA permute their use-value into exchange value; that is, into money or gold. The travel chest with banknotes depicted by Utarit in the space that in an altarpiece is normally assigned to the figure of God the Father assumes an additional meaning that, once again, involves the dynamics of colonization. According to Utarit, since what Marx calls “the fetishism of commodities” favors the capitalization of money, the matter is intrinsically related to the various forms of colonization, whose objective is to appropriate goods that are to be permuted into gold. The gold that in religious representations in art symbolized the highest forms of pure and sacred that can exist, thereby

Victor Dubreuil evoking the divine, is in Utarit’s composition transmuted into banknotes, Still Life with Money Pile and Champagne, thus becoming the expression of secular interests which, in the sphere of the c. 1890 Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 40.6 cm sacred, bear no relevance. Utarit’s placement of the trunk with banknotes in his polyptych is tantamount to the barrels full of dollars and crucifixes made of banknotes painted by Victor Dubreuil (c. 1840 – c. 1910), a French, natu- ralized American, painter. Based on the little available biographical information about the artist, it might be deduced that Dubreuil, a staunch socialist, wished to express through his paintings that the capitalist system is based on the autoreproduction of money by means of its continuous reinvestment. This system triggers a dy- namic that ultimately towers over and dominates mankind. In other words, whoever is in possession of money cannot help but be taken up by it, or capital will become pauperized. Debreuil also painted a cross comprised of overlapping banknotes pierced by four nails, converging religious symbolism and sociopolitical criticism. Utarit’s trunk brimful with money, just like Debreuil’s crucifix of banknotes, remarks upon money’s role of divinity in Victor Dubreuil the life of mankind. The Cross of God, c. 1896 In Vino Veritas, 2013 Oil on canvas, 35.6 x 30.5 cm Venturing to emphasize how the influence of Western thinking in the Oil on linen, 60 x 80 cm Crystal Bridges Art Museum, Bentonville, AR world was determined by the vision of an omnipotent God who acts in history and on the fate of man, and in an attempt to contextually interpret the figure of God according to conceptions related to Eastern thinking, Utarit finds in the phrase “God has no religion” a way of deconstructing the original narrative of Christian altarpieces. Assigning to Gandhi’s phrase the position that in Christian polyptychs is often occupied by the image of God creates an additional short circuit: as a Hindu, Gandhi believed that the Brahman, the universal spirit, permeated all things. The other top panel, as we have said, depicts a black skull surmounted by a golden mandible with the characteristics

44 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 45 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT of a crown. Utarit had previously made a sculptural version of this subject, In the polyptych, the fig plant recalls the tree upon which the vulture entitled The Golden Crown (2010). The work makes reference to the political from the fable was perched, though, reduced to a decorative plant, it is so frail crisis between the conservatives and progressives in Thailand after the coup that it would be unable to sustain nests. Furthermore, the plant alludes to d’état of 2006, carried out by their army. The mandible transformed into a gold shrubs that in the desert can be mistaken for trees, as expressed in the phrase crown suggests that power is built on someone’s ruin and death. from the Hitopadesha featured in the right-hand lunette. On the sides of the central panels of the polyptych are two statues of As has already been mentioned, Utarit’s preferred metaphor for the overturned angels, one of whom is blindfolded, holding shell-shaped holy condition of Asian psychological subjection with regard to the West is the

Dwarf Portrait No. 4, 2012 Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm

Dwarf Portrait No. 5, 2012 Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm

Opposite Dwarf Portrait No. 1, 2012 Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm

Dwarf Portrait No. 2, 2012 Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm

Dwarf Portrait No. 3, 2012 Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm

water basins. This is a reference to European furniture or to columns that dwarf. “In the past,” he writes, “the perception of human beings’ physical recall classical Greek architecture which can be found in homes in Bang- abnormalities was closely tied with religious beliefs and superstition. Physical kok, to Louis XIV-style furniture found in middle-class living rooms and disabilities were exploited for the entertainment of all people, from the royal to the lifestyles and ways of thinking influenced by the colonial politics of court to the circus. Dwarfs in popular culture were related to magic, maledic- the nineteenth century. By turning them upside down, Utarit uses the two tion and perversity. This old mentality seems to persist today. I can still sense statues to express the downfall of the cultures which, by presenting them as in the little people with whom I am acquainted their self-protection, as if they purely decorative objects in an extraneous context, exhibit them as a testament were hiding something. To me, it is as if they were saying that what the world to their opulence, ultimately uncloaking their lack of cultural roots. On the thinks of them has not changed, with the exception that nothing is outwardly other hand, the vial and the books featured in one of the central panels of stated as it was a hundred years ago.”14 the polyptych make reference to the niches with liturgical objects painted by In the lower region of the polyptych, four dwarfs look at a red drape Taddeo Gaddi (c. 1300 – 1366) in the Baroncelli chapel of Florence’s Basilica di covering a mirror with curiosity. In Western culture, red is the color of power, Santa Croce. Utarit adds a tricorn and a spatula for mixing paint on a palette. of the emperor’s cape, of the cardinal’s clothing and of the carpet unrolled at the By placing liturgical objects from the Christian world alongside instruments feet of the powerful lest they should touch the bare ground. It does not have from traditional European painting, Utarit reveals his discomfort in realizing the same significance in Asian culture, where images of celebrities walking on that his studies have led him to favor classical western expressive forms. These the red carpet at film festivals are well-known. Here, Utarit underscores how expressive forms inevitably bring with them a value system that is not only Western symbolism and metaphors are alluded to in Asian culture without an aesthetic, but also intimately tied to a metaphysical and political vision. The understanding of their origin. Dressed in the clothing of seventeenth-century strategy Utarit adopts in order to defuse this sense of discomfort is to make Spanish courtiers, the dwarfs in Faith Means Not to Know What is True appear evident that his reflection on linguistic and stylistic codes is related to various to carry out their task as servants whilst avoiding raising the drape that covers traditions, both eastern and western. the mirror, so as to not learn of their condition.

46 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 47 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite Faith Means Not Wanting to Know What is True, 2012 (detail)

Taddeo Gaddi Niche with Paten, Pyx and Ampuliae, c. 1327–38 Fresco, 35.6 x 30.5 cm Basilica di Santa Croce, Baroncelli chapel, Florence

48 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite Faith Means Not Wanting to Know The Dwarf in the Mirror What is True, 2012 (detail) The first portrayal of a dwarf by Utarit dates back to 2009, but it was only in the year 2013, when the artist began to study their physiognomy from different angles, that the dwarf figure became a particularly meaningful theme in his aesthetics. After evaluating the way in which the figure is conveyed in Western art and studying its symbolic and metaphoric meaning, Utarit particularly concentrates on the representations by Bronzino (1603–1572) and Diego Velázquez (1599–1660). These influences led the artist to paint his dwarfs in the style of Velásquez, as well as to analyze how the meaning expressed in the works of important artists of the past is reflected in those of contemporary artists, such as Juan Muñoz (1953–2001). Among the various representations of little people by Muñoz, one from 1995 features a female dwarf, Sara, as she looks at herself in the mirror. With the exception her black shoes, the resin sculpture is entirely white. Sara wears a pleated skirt, which she raises slightly above her knees in order to get a better look at her legs. Multiple versions of the subject exist. Unlike Velásquez, who concentrated on the identity of the subject when creating portraits that bring to light psychological implications, Muñoz concentrates on the dwarf as a category. His figures remain anonymous even when their name appears in the title of the work. In Muñoz’s installations there is no true narrative; rather, there is the attempt to prevent the observer from relating to the subject. While Utarit’s portraits of dwarfs, which are rich in detail and con- centrate on the psychological import of the subject, might appear to resemble Velásquez’s figurations, they, like those of Muñoz, represent a category and not a particular individual. Yet though Muñoz’s Juan Muñoz dwarfs do not convey their disadvantage, but provoke it in others (hence Sara Sara in Front of a Mirror, 1995 Mirror and polyester resin, can look at herself in the mirror) Utarit’s dwarfs are victims of their own sense 220 x 140 x 58 cm of inadequacy (hence they leave the mirror before them covered). “From the Estate of the artist day we confronted and battled colonialism to today,” Utarit writes, “we are like dwarfs looking in the mirror through a veil, preventing us from seeing our true identity.”15 Nearly a century before Velásquez, the figure of the dwarf piqued the interest of Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino, to whom is attributed a particular portrait of Braccio di Bartolo, a jester at the court of Cosimo de’ Medici. Di Bartolo, mockingly nicknamed “Morgante,” like the giant who gives the title to a comical fifteenth-century poem, was illustrated by Bronzino

50 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT in the nude, both frontally and from the back, on a panel painted on both sides. We Are Asia, 2012 Oil on linen, 150 x 100 cm In the realm of meaning, Bronzino’s representation of the dwarf is as distant as can be from Utarit’s. Nevertheless, inasmuch as this painting had an impact on Utarit’s poetics and figurations, it is worth our consideration, along with the narrative surrounding its protagonist, in an attempt to also underscore their differences. Known in sixteenth-century Florence for his influence on Cosimo de’ Medici, a reason for which he was feared, Morgante was depicted in paintings, marble and bronze sculptures, as well as prints and tapestries. There is a lengthy anecdote surrounding him; it is said that the commander of the ducal army was removed from his duties for having had an altercation with him, and that Cosimo valued his company so much that when Morgante killed one of his servants, he made certain that he remain in the court unpunished. Posing like a classical sculpture, Bronzino’s Morgante appears proud and confident. He is not afraid of showing himself in the nude, making his diversity easy to overlook. Furthermore, he is depicted both before and after hunting, a no- ble activity during which he would often accompany his Lord. In order to see the subject in his en- Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo Tori) tirety one must walk around the canvas, as if observing a sculpture. It would Nano Morgante, before 1553 Oil on canvas, 150 x 98 cm seem that the decision to paint both sides of the canvas was the Tuscan painter’s Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence way of expressing his opinion about the “Paragone,” the debate in which one Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo Tori) form of art was to be chosen as being dominant over all others. Initiated in Nano Morgante, before 1553 (back) Oil on canvas, 150 x 98 cm the major Italian courts of the second half of the fifteenth century, the debate Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence gained impetus in the court of Cosimo I thanks to Benedetto Varchi. Poets, musicians, literati, painters and sculptors participated in the dispute, to which the artists of the Medicean court, among them Bronzino, contributed greatly. With his double portrait of Morgante the dwarf, the painter wished to prove not only that, like sculpture, painting was able to offer a view with multiple angles, but that it was also capable of capturing the chronological succession of moments. While Bronzino emphasizes the individuality and the personality of his subject, Utarit’s dwarf is a sort of abstraction that is unrelated to the subject being modeled, insofar as he exemplifies a condition. Like Muñoz, Utarit explains in his interviews that he has encountered great difficulty in building a direct relationship with the dwarfs he has depicted. Despite the amount of information the two artists may have gathered during these encounters, no inkling of the models’ personal lives is transmitted in their works. As has been observed, Muñoz tends to underscore the discomfort experienced in the face

52 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 53 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Big Hat, No Cattle, 2013 Oil on linen, 150 x 100 cm

We Are Asia No. 2, 2013 Oil on linen, 94 x 82 cm

54 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 55 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT The Court of Colonized King, 2014 Oil on canvas, 45 x 90 cm

56 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 57 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT of physical diversity, while Utarit seeks to expose the discomfort felt by those The Confession, 2013, polyptych (8 panels) with dwarfism. This same sense of discomfort lingers in The Confession, the Oil on linen, 446 x 270 cm second polyptych created as an experiment and conceived as a confession by the Asian artist, who, when looking both to the East and to the West, is faced with his own identity crisis. The Confession brings this crisis to life by placing in the midst of a Baroque setting a skeleton holding an antique frame. The scraps of cloth clinging to the edge suggest that the canvas has been cut. The empty frame, whose painted portion is missing, ultimately frames the skeleton’s torso and pelvis. Reduced to simple scaffolding, the empty frame and skeleton are the visual representation of Utarit’s conviction that art cannot be solely reduced to thought, other- wise it is the equivalent of a skeleton without flesh and blood. In the other panels of the painting Utarit depicts settings overflowing with allusions to Western art. Among red drapes, rugs and empty golden frames—which for the artist are windows into the old perception of painting—we find the copy of a classical statue, a still life, Botticelli’s Venus, a mannequin for anatomical studies, embalmed animals, chests, chairs, a European silk scarf, an empty candelabra, and books on philosophy and the history of Western art. Botticel- li’s Venus observes her reflection in a deformed mirror. Her distorted image in the mirror brings to light how the canons of beauty, like all things, are transient and subject to change. In the upper right-hand panel a neoclassi- Willem Claesz Heda cal figure wearing a helmet has just used his sword to slash a canvas whose back Still Life with a Gilt Cup, 1635 Oil on panel, 88 x 113 cm is shown. This is a reference to the slashes by Lucio Fontana and thus to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam challenge faced by twentieth-century artists to follow up on the Renaissance initiative to achieve a faithful perspectival illusion. Fontana’s slashes on the canvas are true fissures of the pictorial space, and are so real that one could stick one’s fingers inside. Yet, despite the fact that Fontana replaced presentation with representation, he always operated against the backdrop of the history of art, as Utarit emphasizes by placing the slashed canvas within a context of objects, sculptures and paintings from various time periods. In the lower section of the polyptych, a skeleton wearing ermine fur and a decorated hat represents aristocrats and powerful individuals from the past who, just as the wealthy today, find in the acquisition of artworks the affirmation of their social status as well as an opportunity to increase the commercial value of the work. The skeleton extends his arm as he places a letter of credit inside of a suitcase. Once again, the artist makes reference to values that travel with goods and to the conquest of new markets. The skeleton is that of a wealthy gentleman who has filled his suitcase with the same elements found in seventeenth-century Dutch still lifes.

58 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 59 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Still Lifes

In The Confession resting on a silver platter is a pheasant of which we see only one wing, as it is covered by the side of the suitcase and by a red drape that recalls a table cloth. Inside an industrially-produced container, reminiscent of present-day discount merchandise, which itself rests on the silver platter, we find two lemons. As in still lifes by Willem Claesz Heda, Pieter Claesz, Willem Kalf, Jan Davidsz. de Heem or Abraham van Beyeren, one of the two lemons is partially peeled, though in Utarit’s work the rind is far too long to be considered true to size. The embalmed animals to the right of the chest also appear unnatural. Utarit’s work thus illustrates that, when transferred to an Asian context, western language and narrative inevitably present themselves as a sort of foreign body. Confronting the tradition of western painting involves dedicating attention to its subjects and to its dominant themes. One of these is the still life tradition, something Utarit has dealt with re- peatedly. As we have seen, the artist appropriates particularly shrewd images to express certain ideas, while transforming their content for his personal use. The strategy he has adopted when modifying the meaning of images borrowed from European art involves including in his compositions elements that appear to be in contrast with the painted scene. We have already mentioned the length of the lemon peel in The Confession, which contributes to making Juan Sánchez Cotán the entire scene seem unnatural. Another expedient used by Utarit is to feature Still Life with Game Fowl, 1600–03 Oil on canvas, 67.8 x 88.7 cm objects of our time, such as iconic contemporary works (by Beuys and Warhol, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL for instance) or toys, merchandise and products with tags. In Utarit’s still lifes, the compositional structure is always reminiscent of seventeenth-century Dutch still lifes. Yet, only the makeup of the figures recalls antique painting, and never the body of the painting, which is stylistically always very dry and intentionally poor with respect to the meticulousness of the details in Dutch still lifes from which the composition clearly draws inspiration. One example of this visual mosaic can be found in Hell Kitchen, a still life from 2013, where, on a table cluttered with objects upon which prowls a large rat, we find a bottle of San Pellegrino mineral water, while vegetables and utensils hang from above. Whereas the compositional structure recalls seventeenth-century Dutch still lifes, the utensils and vegetables hanging on hooks call to mind the seventeenth-century still lifes by Spaniard Juan Sánchez Cotán, which depict vegetables and game which have been hung from thin strings in Hell Kitchen, 2013 Oil on linen, 140 x 130 cm window compartments so as to avoid rotting. Cotán’s objects, illustrated frontally and from up-close, stand out before a black background. Illuminated by a lateral light, they display the first signs of decomposition, emphasizing the precarious- ness of their condition and the instability of the matter. Cotán crops the scene and excludes the upper part of the window, leaving out of the composition the

60 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 61 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite Still Life with Grocery Food and Opus 1, 2013 Oil on linen, 160 x 140 cm

If Life Gives You Lemons, Make Margaritas, 2013 Oil on linen, 50 x 40 cm

62 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Everything Is Politics, 2012 Oil on linen, 150 x 200 cm points from which the strings hang. Utarit also excludes these points, making them inexplicably dangle over a table, creating the strange atmosphere we always find in his paintings, made even more evident by the presence of the bottle of mineral water, the jar of spices and the modernity of the utensils. In this painting we perceive only a faint reflection of the inherent mysticism of Cotán’s still lifes from the beginning of the seventeenth century, which illustrate nature in order to speak of the spirit and to confront the theme of finiteness from a religious perspective. Cotán’s religious motivation led him to enter a Cartusian convent in 1603, at the age of 43, where he stopped painting still lifes and began taking up religious subject matter charged with mysticism. Cotán’s work belongs to a particularly significant period in Spanish art, in which still lifes (in addition to memento mori) concealed the crisis of spiritual values and the sadness of desen- gaño, the disillusionment with regard to the improvement of living conditions in Spanish society due to the revenue from commerce with products coming from American colonies. By contrast, Utarit does not see the invasion of western products as an improvement for living conditions in Southeast Asian nations. The rat on the table approaching the food in a predatory manner introduces an element of disturbance that pollutes the atmosphere of the composition. Just like seventeenth-century artists, Utarit depicts his subjects based on real models which he places in actual theaters. The transferal of subjects to the canvas, however, takes place with the help of photographic reproductions which are retouched in order to obtain the desired light effects. As Hell Kitchen reminds us, his paintings give us an artificial image of nature, which passes through the mediation of a cultural view that, in addition to literature, includes photography and cinema, as well as adver- tising that feeds the market. Therefore, while on the one hand Hell Kitchen borrows Cotán’s formal structure, on the other hand it changes its meaning, shifting its focus from a memento mori to the effect on the behaviors and ways of thinking generated by goods travelling from one part of the world to another, such as San Pellegrino mineral water, an Italian brand that can also be found on the dinner tables of Thai families.

Instilling the Doubt of Not Being Right

The control of a territory can only be attained when those who inhabit that territory can be influenced culturally. In order for this to happen, in order for the colonizer to reach his objective, he must instill in the colonized the doubt of not being right. In The Private Expectation of God and the Are You in the Game?, 2013 confessing his own state of discomfort, Utarit contextually reveals the awareness Common Reason of Investment, 2014, Oil on linen, 200 x 180 cm that conditioning is not only the externalization of the weakness of those who are diptych Oil on canvas, 260 x 230 cm affected, but also that of the strength of those who are able to make persuasive power their most incisive weapon. Hence the irruption in his work of auction paddles grasped onto by collectors or by their emissaries in an effort to raise bids—a clear reference to the laws of the market and to their corresponding strategies for determining the cultural value of a work.

66 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 67 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite We find these paddles again in The Private Expectation of God and the The Private Expectation of God and the Common Reason of Investment, 2014, Common Reason of Investment and in Nescientia, both from 2014, grouped in diptych (detail) with an accumulation of objects from different genres, periods and origins. In the first polyptych, sacred décor, damasked fabrics, silk drapery, taxidermies, animal skeletons, old books and much more call to mind the shop of an antique dealer. Protruding from a golden frame and directing her gaze towards the spectator, a young woman whose face has been borrowed from a portrait by Giovanni Battis- ta Moroni emerges. Her head turned three-quarters, Moroni’s woman looks out at the spectator, creating a climate of complicity. Her act of emerging from the illusory space of the frame into real space reverses the painted subject’s role with respect to the spectator who, insofar as he is observed, finds himself involved in that illusory world. The spectator thus becomes aware that the world beyond the frame is no less illusory than what is painted. Crowding the scene are precious porcelain pieces, a marble cano- py, a candelabra with electric light bulbs, a clock, a globe, a plastic pail and a brick case. In addition, we find an old first aid training mannequin who, lying on the ground, raises one arm as it clasps onto an auction paddle. This alludes to the heap of objects as merchandise, or, better yet, suggests that the accumulation of objects in that space—the expression of human creativity in the case of objects, proof of lives sacrificed in order to become decorations in the case of taxidermies—has been reduced to merchandise. In the upper portion of the left-hand panel of the diptych two scrolls have been unreeled and read “The path to paradise begins in hell” and “In heaven all the interesting people are missing.” The first citation is from the Divine Comedy, the alle- gorical-didactic poem written by Dante in the early Giovanni Battista Moroni years of the fourteenth century, in which the poet describes in the first person his Portrait of a Young Lady, c. 1560-65 Oil on canvas, 51 x 42 cm journey from Hell to Paradise, passing through Purgatory. In all of these places Private collection Dante meets the souls of the deceased and engages in conversation with them. “The path to paradise begins in hell” recalls the famous Latin proverb “per aspera ad astra”, a saying attributed to Cicero and later treated by Seneca and Horace, suggesting that it is by way of difficulties that one reaches upward. The second phrase, “In heaven all the interesting people are missing,” makes reference to the Nietzschean concept of the death of God, the conviction that man has killed his own God and has not been able to create a new system of values that is able to fill this void. The absence of “interesting people” in heaven indicates the absence of points of reference for those living on Earth. The two phrases confirm the pessimistic view that permeates Utarit’s entire work. The questions raised in The Private Expectation of God and the Common Reason of Investment oscillate between the religious and the political and social

68 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Partial view of the exhibition Optimism is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces Ayala Museum, Manila, 2017 Nescientia, 2014, triptych Oil on canvas, 290 x 387 cm

72 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 73 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite realms, and verge on an analysis of the “fetishism of commodities,” which will be Nescientia, 2014, triptych (detail) discussed later. However, here the concept of merchandise extends to anything that can be thought of as an object of exchange geared toward obtaining spiritual advantages. In the painting this trade is illustrated by the stuffed billy goats representing animals offered in sacrifice. The embalmed animal is in this case testament to the dangers of the ignorance that can hide within religious beliefs, as proven by the sacrificial cults involving animals and human beings whose death at the altar was thought to pardon the sins of an entire community. Whereas in The Private Expectation of God and the Common Reason of Investment embalmed animals evoke the sacrificial victims of ancient sacred narratives, in Nescientia paintings, statues, precious porcelain, furniture and antique objects are presented as idols greeted by open arms competing for their attention. The dominant elements in the painted scene are a Roman marble statue of a Hellenistic bronze depicting the god Hermes, a large golden crucifix and an anatomical mannequin with the head of Buddha. The posture of the mannequin with a Buddha head, which in Thai is called Pang-Perd-Lok, refers to an extreme moment of truth and, perhaps, the possibility of salvation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. This is a reference to the episode in which Buddha opens the three worlds of Sky, Earth and Hell, thereby allowing that all human beings be revealed to each another and that the reality of existence be understood. This image of Buddha has been reproduced on countless antique amulets that are sought after by collectors, interested in their aesthetic and commercial value rather than their spiritual references. The same holds true for the statue of Hermes and the crucifix, both objects known for their role as col- lectables more so than for their original meaning. The anatomical mannequin alludes to science’s attempt to explain all things in rational terms. In this polyptych things and people compete to perform a collective rite in which auctioneers, sale assistants and buyers are transformed into priests, deacons, worshippers and supplicants. Kneeling on the ground in the same way as the pilgrims and supplicants depicted by Caravaggio in his Madonna Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio of Loreto or Madonna of the Rosary, these men appear to have forgotten that Pilgrims Madonna, c. 1604–06 Oil on canvas, 260 × 150 cm they themselves forged the objects of their adoration. In the indiscriminate Church of Sant’Agostino, Rome accumulation of objects from different geographical and temporal provenance, art, science and religion intermingle to the point of becoming interchangeable: in this manner, everyone gets to find their god.

74 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite Nescientia, 2014, triptych (detail)

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Madonna of the Rosary, 1606–07 Oil on canvas, 364 × 249 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Opposite Utarit even depicts himself among the supplicants, with his head Nescientia, 2014, triptych (detail) inclined before an empty frame. The pose is reminiscent of that of Narcissus (1597–99), a painting long attributed to Caravaggio, considered today to be by Giovanni Antonio Galli, known as “lo Spadarino,” who worked in Caravaggio’s circle. Unlike Narcissus who sees his reflection in the water, Utarit has depicted himself observing an incomprehensible and equally illusory reality comprised of shadows. Alongside him a man wearing a Lom-Poc, a traditional Thai ceremonial hat, gazes out towards the observer, reminding us that while the pictorial language used is related to Western art, the painting is centered on the history and culture of Thailand. Nevertheless, Utarit’s art remains distant from the notion of genius loci. It evolves as a so- cio-philosophical reflection that revolves around themes, concepts and narratives concerning the history, politics and religion in Southeast Asia, and delves into analysis by means of a pictorial language that avoids immersing its roots in the pictorial tradition of the motherland. Utarit examines the phenomena of daily life in Thailand in relation to the effects of colonization in Southeast Asia, while keeping his distance from the deep-seated and reiterated art and architecture that characterize the so-called “spirit of place.” The place of origin transmits a range of sensations, memories and emotions to each individual, who then processes them in their own personal way. At the same time, these are deeply rooted in the images, narratives and, above all, in the pictorial languages passed down from one generation to another. Through their Giovanni Antonio Galli, meanings and symbolism, artistic expressions compete to create the ex- known as “lo Spadarino” (attr.) Narcissus, c. 1597–99 clusivity of the genius loci. Oil on canvas, 112 x 92 cm In addition to using a pictorial language that is unrelated to the history Long attributed to Caravaggio Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, of the art of Thailand and infiltrating the canvas with dry and simple brush- Palazzo Barberini, Rome strokes, Utarit integrates and intermingles styles that are entirely different from each other, making it impossible to identify a specific style in his work.

The Macabre Dance and the Tripitaka

Every culture is defined, among other things, by its relationship with death. Utarit takes up this theme in his altarpiece Passage to the Song of Truth and Absolute Equality (2014). The work was conceived as a contemplation of death which assumes a universal meaning, despite the fact that from an iconographic point of view it is presented as a macabre dance, a recurrent motif in European art from the late Middle Ages.

78 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Passage to the Song of Truth and Absolute Equality, 2014, polyptych (5 panels) Oil on canvas, 212 x 510 cm

Bernt Notke Danse Macabre, 1633 Oil on canvas, 157 × 210 cm Church of St Nicholas, Tallinn

80 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 81 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite Utarit does not perceive the depictions of the macabre dance to be in Passage to the Song of Truth and Absolute Equality, 2014, contradiction with any formulations of the Tripitaka (triple basket)—the Pa¯li polyptych (detail) cannon in Buddhism—which incite steadfast reflection on certain teachings of Buddha in order to understand the reality of our lives. In the macabre dance, every human being, whether prince or commoner, rich merchant or beggar, bishop or humble friar, is accompanied by a mummy or a skeleton, sometimes wrapped in a white drape, who dances and plays music. Generally, the figure that represents the live being wears the distinctive signs of their status. These representations were meant to admonish men, reminding them that death can come at any time and that, no matter each individual’s role, we are all destined to die. Though the macabre dance motif has on occasion assumed less spiritual implications, becoming the face of the revenge of the inferior classes in the face of the arrogance of the powerful, its message in Christian terms expresses that we will all be equal before God when we have to answer for our actions. Though there is no water in sight, Passage to the Song of Truth and Absolute Equality is set on the banks of a river, a recurring narrative symbol of the passage from life to death. The boat that ferries souls into the kingdom of death is featured in many mythical-religious narratives, from the ancient Egyptian and Chinese civilizations to the Greeks and Etrus- Arnold Böcklin cans, as well as in primitive Christianity and Dante’s Medieval Christianity. Many Isle of the Dead: Third version, 1883 Oil on panel, 80 × 150 cm funerary customs were celebrated and continue to be celebrated on river shores. Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen In the late nineteenth century, Swiss symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin zu Berlin, Berlin painted a rowboat approaching an island with precipitous rocky cliffs encircling a grove of tall cypress trees. Both the cypress trees and the various windows along the rocky formation call to mind a necropolis. Though Böcklin never offered an explanation of his painting, of which he made five versions, nor gave it a title (it was later denominated Isle of the Dead by the art merchant Fritz Gurlitt in 1883), the work has always been interpreted as a representation of the passage of souls to the realm of Hades. Just as Böcklin turns to the Greco-Roman pictorial tradition, Utarit turns to the Western pictorial tradition of the Renaissance onwards, unconcerned about affirming a modern idea through an artistic language that is, at all costs, innovative. Yet, he creates a temporal short-circuit by allowing linguistic and iconographic elements related to different eras to coexist within his representation. The misunderstandings that may be generated by interpreting Utarit’s art bring us to consider, even if only briefly, what in the twentieth century was defined the “Böcklin Case.” Thanks to the distance Böcklin kept from the cultural models of Winck- elmann, his paintings began to be acclaimed by both conservatives and sup- porters of the avant-garde. The former considered him to be the architect of an aesthetics which was able to bring Germanic art back to its (quite frankly, not well-defined) “German” origins, while the latter praised the artist for having distanced himself from Classicism.

82 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT The consensus surrounding Böcklin’s art was, however, short-lived. The year 1905 saw the beginning of a heated debate, instigated by a pamphlet entitled The Case of Böcklin, written by Julius Meier-Graefe. The art critic and novelist from Berlin denounced Böcklin’s art as the manifestation of a hostile culture towards the international modern movement. Böcklin made no distinction between ancient and modern art; he gave no importance to the development of artistic language between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. He believed that a work of art was to express an aesthetic value that should be perceived and appreciated independently of the period of time in which it was created. This view—dear to art conservators—implied, for example, that images which made reference to Christianity should not distance themselves from the representations of the masters of the past. It was only after a century that Böcklin’s paintings could be appreciated for their pictorial quality and not in accordance with the spirit of his time. Utarit’s work lends itself to the same misunderstanding: it can be accused of using an anachronistic artistic language and, at the same time, praised for bringing the artistic language of the past in line with current times through innovative narratives. The background of the scene in which Utarit sets his Passage to the Song of Truth and Absolute Equality is a cemetery in an old Portuguese borough, later inhabited also by the Dutch, in the city of Ayud- haya, which emerges at the junction of two rivers. It is a Christian cemetery, as indicated by the crosses on the tombs, the statue of an angel and the bell tower that sprouts up in the distance. Just as in Nescientia, in the central panel of the polyptych a man wears the Lom-Poc. Furthermore, despite his contemporary clothing, the young man in the second panel from the right slips out of a pair of traditional shoes, whose style is reminiscent of the jeweled shoes used in the Thai monarchy for coronation ceremonies. In accordance with the narrative of the macabre dance, the Gil de Ronza liturgical and regal attributes that appear in the other panels of the polyptych Death, c. 16th century Wooden sculpture demonstrate how in death man must give up all that he considered important Museo Nacional de Escultura, Valladolid in life. This would explain why, in the painting, the humans accompanied by skull-faced mummies on the steps of the pier, on the banks of the river, are disrobing. One of the mummies rests a sickle on his shoulder, an attribute of Opposite death in the Triumph of Death iconography, in which death is seen as a great Passage to the Song of Truth and Absolute Equality, 2014, polyptych (detail) harvester that severs life, just as it would ears of wheat. Behind him, two col-

84 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Partial view of the exhibition Optimism is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces Ayala Museum, Manila, 2017 Opposite umns and an architrave symbolize the passage into a new condition. Just as Allegory of the Beginning and Acceptance, 2015, diptych the ancient motifs of the memento mori and the macabre dance, Passage to the Oil on canvas, 228 x 182 cm Song of Truth and Absolute Equality invites us to reflect on the transitoriness of the human condition. In order to express the message more clearly, Utarit turns to the written word once again and engraves upon the steps of the pier teachings worth contemplation: “I will age; I will become ill; I will die; I will lose the things that are dearest to me and the people I love; my actions are the only legacy I will bring with me.”

If God Did Not Exist it Would Be Necessary to Invent Him

Modern-day societies, marked by the telecommunications revolution and globalization, tend to destroy cultural differences much to the advantage of the stronger culture. Among the effects of globalization is its influence on the relationship between individuals, including models suggesting what self-images should be projected. Utarit confronts this subject in his diptychs Al- legory of the Beginning and Acceptance and Allegory of the End and Resistance, in which two figures, framed by symmetrical architecture, are turned toward one another, just as in many past representations of Adam and Eve. Both diptychs feature the architecture that in the Ghent Altarpiece frame the figures of the commissioners and the statues of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Also reminiscent of the Ghent Altarpiece is the city that comes forth in the distance among trees in Allegory of the Beginning and Acceptance and, even more so, the pose of the two skeletons, borrowed from Van Eyck’s modest Adam and Eve, which would be unimaginable on the bodies that have been stripped from the flesh, devoid of their sexuality. Juan de Valdés Leal The reference to Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Paradise and the sense In ictu oculi, 1672 Oil on canvas, 220 x 216 cm of guilt following their transgression is an obligatory passage in the fine tuning Iglesia y Hospital de la Caridad, Seville of the subject. In the Ghent Altarpiece the tragic consequences of disobeying God, described in the third chapter of the Book of Genesis, are summarized in two inscriptions at Adam’s and Eve’s feet, on the lower part of the frame: “Adam nos in mortem praecipitavit” (Adam has brought us death) and “Eva occidendo obfuit” (Eve has caused death). It is due to original sin that the intimate relationship between humans and God is interrupted. Adam and Eve realize that they have something to hide from God and become aware of their nudity. The profound understanding between man and woman is also interrupted. The harmony with the rest of creation is altered by the emergence of new needs, desires and passions of the soul and of the body. It is always due to this disobedience that human beings know struggles, pain and death.

88 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 89 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite By illustrating the consequences of original sin according to Chris- Allegory of the Beginning and Acceptance, 2015, diptych (detail) tian tradition, Allegory of the Beginning and Acceptance allows for a vast array of symbolic elements to visualize their projection in time. Rabbits, symbols of fertility, represent progeny that inherits sin and its consequences; the owl perched in a tree presents itself as an evil presence that casts its eyes on mankind; the fox whose paw is stuck in a bear trap refers to the end of the harmonic relationship with the rest of creation; weapons and projectiles are symbols of violence, defeat and death; the liturgical platter for offerings which is brought to the altar rests on the ground and is empty as the bond between sacred and human has been severed; the dead birds represent the divine messengers to whom man no longer gives heed. One of these messengers lies upon the pages of a book by Voltaire. The famous citation that unfurls upon two scrolls in the sky is also by Voltaire, from his Épître à l’auteur du Livre des Trois imposteurs: “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” Voltaire’s religiousness was aconfessional, antidogmatic and did not accept revelation. Vol- taire believed in the existence of God, but not in God the Father. For him, the figure of God was the rational order of the world, an order that in his view was not closely connected with the aspirations of man. Thus the figure of God becomes foreign to ethical principles, and hence to the ideas of good and evil, which only respond to socially Michael Wolgemut useful criteria. The phrase by Voltaire used by Utarit summarizes the con- The Dance of Death, 1493, from the Liber chronicarum by Hartmann viction that human beings cannot live without spiritual direction, and that Schedel; Holzschnitt: Michael Wolgemuth they must have something in which to believe and hope. According to this view, believing and hoping do not involve the passive admission of traditional beliefs or the exemption of rationality. In Allegory of the Beginning and Acceptance Adam and Eve, who have become mortal beings, state their innocence and liberate themselves from any sense of guilt. This is testified by the fact that Eve’s skeleton does not hold the forbidden fruit as she does in traditional representations, but rather holds a golden heart, thus offering her counterpart the purest part of herself. In the other diptych, Allegory of the End and Resistance, the human figures are both nude. The man, who has Asian features, has a healthy appearance and sculpted muscles, while the woman is so thin that her translucent skin appears to directly cover her skeleton. The absence of hair makes her appear even more exposed and fragile, and her gaze directed toward the spectator suggests that she is aware of being observed. The bitten fruit on the ground near the man indicates that this is yet another iconographic reference to Adam and Eve, and thus to original sin. The newspaper held by the man, the tattoo of Friedrich Nietzsche’s face on his bicep, and his appearance as well as that of the woman reveal that we are not actually dealing with Adam and Eve, but rather with their

90 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite present-day descendants. Both figures embody the models that many young Allegory of End and Resistance, 2015, diptych Thai people today tend to emulate spending hours at the gym or undergoing Oil on canvas, 228 x 182 cm diets and plastic surgery. In a constant game of equilibrium, the fruit symbolizing original sin can be found on the ground to the left of the man, while a lamb, the symbol of sacrifice and redemption, is found on the right, at the feet of the woman. Not far from the animal are two dice, emphasizing Christological symbolism and the die with which the Roman soldiers gambled for Jesus’ tunic. The die, the cross and nails, the crown of thorns that was placed on Christ’s head and the lance that was pierced through his side, the whips and the inscription placed on the cross, as well as other objects, are all tied to the Passion of Christ and are frequently depicted in Christian art. On the ground, to the left of the woman, a treasure chest brimming with gold, including a crown, symbolizes wealth and power. The woman’s body, turned three-quarters, turns her back to the lamb as she makes her way towards the chest. Additional useful elements for the interpretation of the diptych are the narcissuses in bloom beside the man, an explicit reference to the myth of Narcissus, the young son of a nymph and a god who was as handsome as he was cruel as he would turn down whomever fell in love with him. The Latin poet Ovid explains that a nymph named Echo took a fancy to him, but was declined by Narcissus due to a defect that prevented her from being the first to speak, allowing her only to repeat the final words uttered by others. Echo wandered through the val- Masaccio leys as she yearned for love until all that was left of her was her voice. Narcissus Expulsion fron the Garden of Eden, c. 1425 Fresco, 208 x 88 cm also cruelly turned down the young Ameinias, sending him the gift of a sword Basilica del Carmine, Brancacci chapel, with which to kill himself. Ameinias stabbed himself to invoke the revenge of Florence the gods and the god Artemis listened, ensuring that Narcissus would fall in Lucas Cranach the Elder Adam, 1528 love without being loved back. According to Ovid, one day Narcissus stumbled Oil on panel, 172 x 62 cm upon a limpid spring and saw in its reflection the image of a handsome young Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence man, whom he attempted to embrace. Upon realizing that it was his own reflection, he was mesmerized until he understood that he would never be able to satisfy his desires. He therefore chose to stab himself with his sword, and from the blood-soaked ground emerged the flower narcissus. Utarit depicts a man who, pleased with his reflection, his convictions and his status, embodies the absolute identity that is unable to recognize the other. The woman is his opposite, just like Echo in the myth told by Ovid. Repeating the final words uttered by others and depleting oneself to the point of disappearing amounts to denying one’s very identity. The man and woman On pages 94–95 depicted here thus become the symbol of an illusory reality comprised of re- Allegory of End and Resistance, 2015, diptych (detail) flected images and sounds.

92 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 93 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT In this altarpiece, the two scrolls that unfurl above are marked by an aphorism by Nietzsche: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” This tragic announcement of God’s death formulated by Nietzsche in The Gay Science implied man’s need to take on the responsibility of creating a new set of values that, according to the philosopher, cannot be otherworldly. These new values, then, must be human and set against those from Christian morality, which demeans terrestrial reality, the will to live and the acceptance of self and desire. The transvaluation of values suggests that Earth is no longer the place where man has been exiled; it is no longer the valley of Christian tears where man expiates original sin. Suggesting that the overman, who is able to surpass the death of God and create a new system of values, never came to fruition, Utarit portrays a man who has elected himself as lord of the universe, who takes obsessive care of his body and who, despite his nudity, continues to display something of society as he holds a business journal. The female figure, on the other hand, is emaciated, accentuating her subalternity, and comes off as a disoriented creature. The treasure chest at her feet suggests the search for new fetishes, which would guarantee her the comforting horizons within which she lived until the proclamation of the death of God. In many past representations, Adam and Eve cover themselves with their hands or with fig leaves in order to express the discomfort brought about by their nudity. They feel naked because they know that they cannot hide their disobedience from God. They feel exposed. The two figures painted by Utarit do not cover themselves as they do not have a god from which to hide. They feel as though they are above good and evil.

Theatre of the Absurd

The tendency towards nihilism in today’s society is also represented in The- atre of the Absurd (2105). The circus tent that serves as the background of the triptych’s central panel illustrates the condition in which human beings work tirelessly only to create an ephemeral moment of wonder. Utarit revisits the memento mori theme by featuring in his composition human heads, including his own. Hanging from golden grapevines, the heads await their fate as they will either fall or be picked. The scene is crowded with people and things which plastically represent the condition of humanity that operates without a goal or destination, in a chaotic and indecipherable reality. Yet, symbolically, the presence of subjects such as the hot-air balloon, the monk and the musician suggest a possible exit from the condition of chaos. In the upper sections of the two lateral panels a phrase attributed to Al- bert Einstein reads: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.” The juxtaposition of the two views put forth by Einstein is accentuated by the fact that the citation is split amongst two distinct scrolls, placed on the two external panels of the altarpiece. The sentence describes the sense of marvel experienced by Einstein upon realizing that the universe behaves according to a hard-and-fast rationality, proven by the fact that it is possible to articulate theories on the laws of the

95 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Theatre of the Absurd, 2015, triptych Oil on canvas, 250 x 540 cm

96 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 97 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite cosmos before having even tested them. Yet, what became of those moments Theatre of the Absurd, 2015, triptych (detail) of grace that brought him to unlock the mysteries of physics and to delve into metaphysics, bringing about the redefinition of the concepts of space and time, when his discoveries were transformed into agents of destruction? It must not be forgotten that the implementation of the equation for the theory of special relativity developed by Einstein was indispensable to the construction of the atomic bomb. Despite not taking part in its creation, but well-aware that the Nazis were studying nuclear fission with the goal of using it for war purposes, in 1939 Einstein would sign a letter inviting President Roosevelt to support a team of scientists that would ultimately deliver the lethal device to the United States of America. The absurd condition of the scientist, who on one hand provides new awareness to humanity and on the other contributes involuntarily to its destruction, allows Utarit to exhibit the degree of insensitivity found in both an optimistic vision and in a pessimistic one. In order to accentuate his view, Utarit infuses his work with elements that require careful observation, and attention to detail. Though each component appears ambiguous and incomprehensible, it must be assessed with discernment and observed closely lest we be misled. In the left-hand panel, a marble sculpture, which at first sight resembles Michelangelo’s Ma- donna of Bruges (1503–05), reveals itself as a less than faithful copy. At its feet, a head attached to a skeleton lying on a red drape casts its gaze towards the spectator. Below it, the skeleton of a rabbit makes the atmosphere even stranger. In the opposite panel the nonsense is expressed by the action of a woman dressed in black, wearing elegant elbow-length gloves and a mask as she lifts an empty frame. The mask is highly reminiscent of the face of the young woman painted by Giovanni Battista Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Moroni, found in The Private Expectation of God and the Common Reason David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1610 Oil on canvas, 125 × 101 cm of Investment, as previously noted. This sophisticated figure appears to be the Galleria Borghese, Rome incarnation of the pseudo-values of the post-WWII European middle class that concealed the alienation, impossibility of communication and anguish and solitude that the playwrights of the so-called “theater of the absurd” represented through situations and dialogues that were outwardly illogical and tragicomic. Behind the woman the alternating colored stripes of the fabric of a hot-air balloon recall those of the circus tent, while alluding to the possibility of rising above this chaotic and nonsensical reality. In the central panel three bare-foot figures—a monk, a nude woman and a shirtless young man playing the organ—turn their backs to the spectator and On pages 100–101 are indifferent to our gaze. The nude woman is the exact opposite of the masked Theatre of the Absurd, 2015, triptych (detail) woman who seeks the attention of the spectator. The musician and the monk, in-

98 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT

Opposite tent on playing and listening, are oblivious of their projected self-image. Written Theatre of the Absurd, 2015, triptych (detail) upon the scroll that traverses the panel is a phrase by present-day Presbyterian pastor John Ortberg: “Churches can become places of cynicism, resistance, and pessimism.” Utarit uses Ortberg’s statement to analyze the debates that emerge periodically within the Church with regard to the interpretation of sacred scripture, rituals, relations with the faithful, religious leadership and the manage- ment of temporal power—all themes that had a profound impact on the art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, marked by the Protestant Reformation which caused a schism within the Christian Church.

Contemplation of Death

In the altarpiece Nescientia and The Private Ex- pectation of God and the Common Reason of In- vestment Utarit uses as models several candelabras and a golden crucifix which he purchased at a flea market. He would later use the same candelabras and crucifix in his medium-size painting Fallen (2016), which belongs to a series of works centered on skeletons, Contemplation of Death, which he began working on in October of 2015 and presented for the first time in Austria in 2017.16 In Fallen, Utarit assembles the painting’s different elements in a chaotic fashion, which, at a formal level, calls to mind the superimpositions and perspectival crops of the Cubists, who produced a unified entity in precarious equilibrium. This alludes to our modern-day circumstances, marked by a crisis of values. Yet again, Utarit’s work draws inspiration from the theories expressed by Michael Wright in the book Christianity in Crisis. Giovanni Battista Moroni Theatre of the Absurd and Contemplation of Death are bound by a com- Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1560-65 Oil on canvas, 73.5 x 65 cm mon thread. The theme of the painting are the changes generated by political Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam instability in Thai society, ultimately impacting the values that have been at the heart of how the Thai people have felt for centuries. Utarit explains that, while Buddhism insists on the impermanence of all things and on the inevitability of change, the majority of people are not able to profoundly internalize this truth. The fear of change has thus brought the Thai people to give an ever-increasing importance to material things. As has been frequently noted, Utarit appropriates images he considers to be impregnated with meaning and adapts them for his own use. Yet, there are images that, despite being decontextualized and re-elaborated, are indelibly marked by their original narrative as well as the life experiences of their author. The work simultaneously hides and manifests both the existential condition of the author—laden with worries, passions and disappointments—and the happenings that define the identity of the society and era in which he operates.

102 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Theatre of the Absurd, 2015, triptych Fallen, 2016 (detail) Oil on canvas, 124 x 64 cm (with frame)

104 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 105 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT The artist’s personal narrative and that of the collective happenings often end up overlapping, ultimately becoming indivisibly one. Consequently, many of his works become a sort of encrypted self-portrait, independent of the depicted subject, the technique and the era in which they were created. One example of this is The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb from 1521 by Hans Holbein, which will be discussed later. The painting was revisited by Utarit in his series of representations of reclining skeletons for the Contemplation of Death cycle. Three of these paintings also feature the same frame found in Holbein’s work. Other pieces in the same series draw inspiration from Andrea Mantegna’s Lam- entation of Christ (c. 1475–78) and Annibale Carracci’s The Dead Christ with the Instruments of His Passion (1583–85). Utarit borrows the compositional and perspectival structure of these Contemplation of Death – Peaceful, 2016 masterful works, while reducing the figures to mere skeletons, transforming the Oil on canvas, 51.5 x 182.5 x 8 cm (with frame) final event of the passion into a true memento mori. In one of these paintings,

Hans Holbein the Younger Contemplation of Death—McQueen, the skeleton, who assumes the position The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb, 1521 of Holbein’s Dead Christ, wears a scarf by British designer Alexander Mc- Contemplation of Death – Golden Buddha, 2016 Tempera on panel, 30.5 x 200 cm Queen. The other two skeletons inspired by Holbein’s painting wear jewels. Oil on canvas, 49 x 175 x 8 cm Kunstmuseum, Basel (with frame) The skeleton in Contemplation of Death—Peaceful wears a necklace, while the skeleton featured in Contemplation of Death—Golden Buddha, in addition to wearing a necklace with a Buddha amulet, wears a precious ring with the Chi- nese inscription “life,” while holding a rosary. “This work,” explains Utarit, “is about death according to Buddhism. It is not dissimilar to a memento mori or to the Christian notion of death. The man with the golden Buddha amulet hanging from his necklace and the rosary was unable to escape death, despite his prayers. When our time comes, no one will be able to help us, neither God nor Buddha. Before death we are alone.”17 The same message is expressed in the other paintings comprising the Con- templation of Death cycle. Each work has its iconographic reference source, be it the skeleton found at the bottom of Masaccio’s fresco Holy Trinity (c. 1426), Caravaggio’s Sleeping Cupid (1608) or Battistello’s Sleeping Cupid (1617–19). The works in this series therefore emerge from a dialogue with European Chris- tian or mythological painting from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, interpreted through the lens of Buddhism.18 Contemplation of Death – McQueen, 2016 Oil on canvas, 49 x 175 x 8 cm By bringing even the image of Christ back to the figure of a skeleton, (with frame) these paintings only consider his nature as a mortal man, distancing themselves

106 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 107 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Andrea Mantegna from the Christian narrative. The New Testament explains that Christ was Lamentation over the Dead Christ, c. 1470–74 resurrected three days after his death on the cross, and ascended into Heaven Tempera on panel, 68 x 81 cm after having appeared to several disciples. This occurrence, which can only be Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan explained by accepting the divine nature of Christ, is one of the fundamental mysteries of the Christian faith. This religious view is foreign to the Buddhist universe, which has no conception of God. The Buddha is not God, but rather an individual who by renouncing human desires and passions was able to avoid the cycle of reincarnation and reach nirvana. The objective—Buddhahood, an interior emptiness obtained through illumination—can be achieved by all. For Buddhists, then, there is no God who transcends human nature. The Christian notion of divine omnipotence, missing in Utarit’s polyptychs, is also absent in these representations of remains, which are themselves destined to become dust. Starkly different are the images of provenance by Carracci, Mantegna and Holbein, which reveal signs of Christ’s passion; the pain and suffering he experienced in spirit and body during the final days of his life, ending in his crucifixion. In particular, Holbein’s Dead Christ, a work I have focused on in other publications,19 relates to the life of its author and allows for an understanding of the historical and social context in which the work was created. It is a piece worth revisiting. In Holbein’s work the color of Christ’s skin, the expression of pain on his face, the wounds on his cadaver, which has been confined to a narrow space in his tomb, are all elements that do not prophesize his resurrection. The painting exhibits a disheartening pessimism and anguish. And yet, insofar as it is not a representation of a skeleton, the Christian narrative of Christ’s resurrection remains intact. Holbein’s Dead Christ can be considered a reflection of the claustrophobic condition in which Divine Skeleton, 2016 Oil on canvas, 61.5 x 84.5 x 8 cm the artist found himself during its creation. The pro- (with frame) found pessimism expressed in the work is due to the restrictions that art was subjected to (and would soon be subjected to again) under the Protestant Reformation, which began in 1517. The Reforma- tion challenged the Catholic Church’s reliance on Annibale Carracci intermediaries in order to interpret and comprehend sacred texts, question- Dead Christ, c. 1583–85 Oil on canvas, 70.7 x 88.8 cm ing the role of ecclesiastic hierarchies, in addition to monastic orders and the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart celibacy of priests. The theological debate, related to the temporal power of the Church, opposed the worshipper’s relationship with the transcendent and consequently also with its artistic transposition.

108 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 109 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT In 1520, one year before Holbein would paint his Dead Christ, Swiss priest Huldrych Zwingli, who was among the founders of the Reformed churches in Switzerland, developed a theological conception that, among other things, considered the presence of paintings and sculptures depicting Jesus and the Saints to be heretical. The iconoclastic fury of the most intransigent reformists contested even the use of altarpieces. While Martin Luther was tolerant with regard to art and was not opposed to the presence of images in churches, intransigent positions such as those of German-language reformists, Zwingli and Andreas Karlstadt, took hold by strictly limiting the freedom of expression of artists. The Calvinists would later go as far as objecting decorations in homes and destroying organs in churches. Convinced that it was impossible to portray the divine, which could not be contained in a recognizable image insofar as it is absolutely other than terrestrial things, some reformists considered the veneration of sacred images to be idolatry and supported the prohibition of sacred scripture, encouraging the destruction of religious images. One of the effects of the debate surrounding these topics was the dwindling of religious commissions: in Protestant societ- Death Contemplation – Red Velvet, 2017 Oil on canvas, 39 x 102.5 cm ies—England, Germany, Switzerland, South- (with frame) ern Netherlands—artists were limited to book illustration and portraiture. This would explain the decline of art in countries where Arnold Böcklin religion imposed strict limits, and the flourishing of art in Italy and Spain, The Lamentations of Mary Magdalene on the Body of Christ, 1867 where artists were not subjected to such restrictions. In the Netherlands, de- Oil on canvas, 85.5 x 150 cm spite the diffusion of Protestantism and diminished religious commissions, the Kunstmuseum, Basel country’s solid artistic tradition was able to absorb the recoil of such changes. In 1526, three years after the first iconoclastic destruction in Germany and Switzerland, Holbein left Basel and moved to London, fleeing the resulting conditioning of the Reformation, with the misguided hope of finding greater expressive freedom. In England, Holbein was esteemed by Henry VIII and became his court painter, but was made to abandon the idea of painting sacred subjects and to focus his art on portraiture. Despite the comfort of living in England, it is not difficult to imagine Holbein’s torment upon learning of the iconoclastic fires in Switzerland, Den- mark and Germany. With the passing of the years, despite being a successful artist, Holbein had become defeated and his beautiful portraits progressively detached. Devoid of dramatic elements, they focused on the exterior appearance of the subject, while continuing to reveal their personality. It is as if, through impeccable pictorial technique and mastery, Holbein had decided to hide the world view that shines through the Dead Christ, painted in 1521. One can only imagine the crises experienced by an artist capable of painting a work like the one conserved in Basel, who never stopped inspiring subsequent generations of artists, as demonstrated by Utarit’s Contemplation of Contemplation of Death – Suffering, 2016 Oil on canvas, 56.5 x 99.5 x 8 cm Death cycle. (with frame)

110 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 111 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Holbein’s Dead Christ, to which Utarit makes discordant reference, can be interpreted as a confession by the sixteenth-century artist, who bears the weight of political-religious events that prevent him from exhibiting his art as he would like and that would ultimately keep him from being compared to the masters who preceded him. The discomfort experienced by Holbein—the impossibility of manifesting his creativity by choosing his own subjects—can be further understood by comparing his Dead Christ with Böcklin’s The Lam- entations of Mary Magdalene on the Body of Christ (1897). Painted nearly three and a half centuries after the years of the Reformation, after the Industrial Revolution and at the dawn of a new century overflowing with promises of significant changes, Böck- lin’s work appears theatrical and does not display the same sense of truth found in Holbein’s painting. One could go as far as sensing a sort of eroticism in the black veil wrapped around Mary Magdalene as she covers her eyes with one hand, and in her blonde hair that spills over her shoulders. More important- ly, the body of Christ, lying on a marble slab in an environment that is not constricting like Holbein’s, has a calm expression. Böcklin depicts a dramatic scene while leaving open doors of hope. Utarit’s reclining skeleton is dominated by emptiness and silence. The depiction does nothing but ascertain the reality of death. There is no pathos: with neither face nor flesh, the skeleton becomes a sort of anatomical model. Among Utarit’s works from the Contempla- tion of Death cycle is a skull illustrated frontally whose jaw is wide open, as if it were laughing. The work relates the theme of the entire cycle—the Christian memento mori—to the Buddhist view. “In Buddhism, our destiny is determined by our Memento Mori, 2016 karma, which is the total effect of all our thoughts and actions. Happiness and Oil on canvas, 68.5 x 57 cm (with frame) sadness, heaven and hell are not the creations of a god. There is no divinity who bestows wealth and blessings on us. Everything depends on our own actions. Our karma cannot be given to anyone else, and no one can wash The Death of Angel, 2016 away our sins or purify our souls. We ourselves are solely responsible for Oil on canvas, 124 x 164 cm the good or bad karma we create through our actions. All begins and ends (with frame) with the human mind. Mind has a central place in Buddhist theology, and in contrast with the Catholic concept of original sin, our original mind is pure and unsullied. It is only after we enter the world, where temptations surround us, that our passions are aroused and we are lured into impurity. Reminders of death (morananusati) and an awareness of the true nature of our bodies (asupa: reflection on impurity) point to an inescapable truth: that only we can solve the problems that afflict our race. And all of my work can be interpreted through the lens of this essential truth.”20

112 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 113 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT L’enfer, c’est les autres, 2015, triptych Oil on canvas, 250 x 450 cm

114 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 115 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite L’enfer, c’est les autres, 2015, triptych Hell Is Here (detail) If everything happens on this Earth, then even Hell must necessarily be here among us, on this Earth. Utarit presents this reflection by paraphrasing Jean- Paul Sartre. He develops this theme in his work L’enfer, c’est les autres (2015), a triptych whose title was borrowed from a line from the play Huis clos (1944) by the French existentialist philosopher and playwright. The pièce takes place in a room without windows or mirrors, from which the three characters—two women and one man—do not believe they can escape, and from which they will not escape even after realizing that the door is open. The three protagonists torment each other and experience the infernal torture of seeing themselves reflected in the words the others use to describe them. Hell is other because it is the param- eter against which each individual assesses himself or herself. When discussing this theatrical work, Sartre explains that many people are encrusted with habits and behaviors which they themselves disdain, but do not attempt to change. It is as if these people are dead insofar as they are not able to break through the cage of their problems, their worries and their behaviors and are often victims of the judgements expressed by others about them. According to Sar- tre, regardless of the circle of hell in which man lives, he is free to shatter it. If he does not do so, remaining in hell is simply another one of his free choices.21 The altarpiece L’enfer, c’est les autres features a crime scene, cordoned off with characteristic yellow police tape. The victim is the system of dogmas and rituals which contemporary man feels increasingly distant from. At the top of the central panel, in con- Giotto formity with the space delimited by the yellow tape, Utarit paints an angel whose The Last Judgement, c. 1306 (detail) Fresco, 10 x 8.40 m head is not visible. With paintings of the Ascension throughout the history of Scrovegni chapel, Padua European art in mind, we might perceive him as one of the angels surrounding the Madonna or Christ. Yet, upon closer inspection, we realize that the angel’s wings give him no ascentional push, and his body is relaxed as if it were hanged. Our suspicion is validated by a skeleton who hangs alongside the angel, by the presence of a ladder and by the fact that several white doves fly away from him. Behind the angel we catch sight of the legs of a sexy she-devil on a signboard. In the lower portion of the work, between a monk and death, who is clothed and wears a jester hat while riding a capricorn skeleton, a man falls to the ground. Red banners with winged griffins beside a skeleton indicate a medieval concept of death. Behind the yellow tape, wooden supports can be discerned around the edge of the gown of a female figure with an infant who is reminiscent of Jan van Eyck’s Lucca Madonna. The Madonna with child is

116 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT In the Name of God, 2016, triptych Oil on canvas, 250 x 374 cm Opposite a cardboard cutout; a surrogate divinity deprived of the religious sacredness it In the Name of God, 2016, triptych (detail) has been assigned in art throughout history. The scene is populated by figures whose clothing indicate different eras, roles and social classes. In the central panel a nude man seen from behind extends his arm as he points to two nude women in the left-hand panel who are oblivious to him as they are engulfed in conversation. The man laments as he feels excluded by the lack of female attention. A nude man also appears in the right-hand panel. He holds a pistol in his left hand, while in his right hand is a banner with a cross, symbolizing his being torn between his violent instincts and his faith values. Below to his left, a small man with a rabbit head adds an additional element of oddity to the scene, emphasizing the difficulty of deciphering reality. At the bottom of the central panel a skull can be found in the place it normally occupies in representations of the crucifixion to indicate Gagulta, the hill just outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified (gagulta in Aramaic means “skull”). By and large, the painting is pervaded by a sense of instability, irrationality and senselessness resulting from the unequal balance of power that has developed over time and has transmitted a different view of the world through the exchange of goods.

The Artist as Critic and Historian of Art

In his triptych In the Name of God (2016) Utarit emphasizes how commercial exchange can put at stake the balance of forces that allows one culture to take advantage of another. Throughout its long history of colonial conquests and infiltration in faraway markets, the West was able to export not only its Joseph Beuys Fat Chair, 1964 goods, but also its way of thinking. In the altarpiece In the Name of God these Wood, glass, metal, fabric, paint, fat and dynamics are underscored by the image of an elegant western merchant from thermometer, 183 x 155 x 64 cm National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh the past in the foreground, involved in an exchange with an Asian that to him would be advantageous. Among the westerner’s goods are Fat Chair (1964) by Joseph Beuys, a chair with a wedge of fat placed upon it. The crates behind him are typical of art transportations. In the right-hand panel are works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys and Paul McCarthy, all from the second half of the twentieth century. Among the precious goods departing for the West are statues, ivory engravings, porcelain and spices. The fact that the scene takes place in Thailand is testified by the image of a western tourist on a mounted seat upon the back of an elephant led by a man with the typical clothing of an elephant keeper from Ayudhaya. The elephant is a particularly loved and respected animal in Thailand, and the fact that it has been reduced to a tourist attraction is, for Utarit, a sign of cultural impover- ishment. The presence of contemporary artworks temporally shifts the scene to the present day, and highlights how together with goods come the thinking, mentality, history and philosophical, religious and political conceptions of their place of origin. The more goods invade a place, the more a foreign culture in- sinuates itself into that place. The indigenous man depicted by Utarit does not come off as a cultivated collector who would appreciate Beuys’ Fat Chair. It might be inferred that what the European is attempting to sell him is not the work itself, but rather the world view embodied by it. As previously mentioned, Utarit includes works by Picasso,

120 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite Warhol, Beuys and McCarthy among the goods travelling from the West towards In the Name of God, 2016, triptych (detail) the East. Through their works these artists, as well as Duchamp, whom Utarit has referred to in other altarpieces, have helped produce radical turning points in the artistic sphere, while at the same time influencing the history of thought. Utarit fittingly assigns the works by these artists a place in the pantheon of the masterpieces of the second half of the twentieth century. The presence of Toro. Cannes (1958) reveals that post-WWII artists were indebted to the protagonists of the historical Avant-garde. By focusing on their works, he is able to pay close attention to what Arthur Danto defined as “the philosophical disenfranchisement of art”; that is, the supremacy acquired by the philosophy of art in the twentieth century. For Danto it was not until the twentieth century, with the rise of questions surrounding art brought on by Duchamp’s works and later those of Andy Warhol, that Hegel’s prophecy would become true; that is, that the enjoyment of artworks—which were increasingly infused with philosophy—would be entrusted to the mind rather than to the eye. Particularly, Danto focused his attention on Warhol’s copies of Brillo boxes, serigraphed on the wood of ordinary packages of steel wool pads used for washing pots and pans. This packaging was designed by James Harvey, an artist who dedicated himself to commercial graphic design after failing to find success as an abstract expressionist. The boxes of steel wool pads found in supermarkets and the serigraph reproductions on wood by Warhol can be mistaken for one another only if looked at superficially. Nevertheless, when they were exhibited for the first time, Warhol’s Brillo Boxes were acknowledged as art only by those who were familiar with, or were able to perceive, the conceptual dynamics from which they arose. According to Danto, the difference between Duchamp’s found objects and Warhol’s Brillo Boxes was the role played by philosophy. Duchamp used common objects with the objective of radically eliminating the concepts of beauty, taste, symbols, narrative and savoir faire from the artwork. In order to subtract meaning from the work Duchamp gave nonsense a leading role, guiding art to a territory that was unknown to both aesthetics and philosophy. Duchamp was not in search of beauty. Yet, the Brillo box designed by Harvey was, as it set out to portray the product as a consumer good that was indispensable. Warhol used it with an entirely different objective; he did not wish to elicit emotions, nor was he interested in the concept of beauty or taste. He was interested in illustrating his practices of pure knowledge and analysis. In other words, he wished to make the artwork an object of philosophical speculation. This is, according to Danto, what permitted Warhol to lead his work into the territory of aesthetics and philosophy. Beuys, on the other hand, attuned his work to philosophical-political speculation, bestowing sacral value to the humors, to animals and to our relationship with nature, while denouncing the negative repercussions of interrupting this relationship. Utarit features two works by Beuys, Fat Chair (1964) and Felt Suit (1970) in his painting. Fat Chair is made of a wedge of fat placed upon a chair, while Felt Suit is a suit made of grey felt hanging on a coat hanger. Both materials are thermal accumulators and can be used to protect the human body from cold, giving them a social role. This corresponds to Beuys’ idea that sculpture must

123 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Paul McCarthy Joseph Beuys Opposite Tomato Head (Green), 1994 Felt Suit, 1970 In the Name of God, 2016, triptych Fiberglass, urethane, rubber, metal, plastic, Felt, 170 x 60 cm (detail) fabric and painted metal base, h 218.4 cm Tate Gallery, London Private collection

Andy Warhol Pablo Picasso, Brillo Box (Soap Pads), 1964 Toro. Cannes, c. 1958 Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink Plywood, tree branch, nails, and screws, on wood, 43.3 x 43.2 x 36.5 cm 117.2 x 144.1 x 10,5 cm Museum of Modern Art, New York Museum of Modern Art, New York

124 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT have a social role and that products made by humans are art independently of whether they were created by a sculptor or a physicist. Moreover, felt and animal fat are natural derivatives; fat being bodily waste and felt a fabric obtained by pressing wool fibers and rabbit or leper hair. By making it into sculptural material, Beuys uses felt to dress himself (the clothing previously mentioned) and other objects, including a grand piano. He has also used felt to create sculptural groups. By means of art Beuys thus executes a transfiguration of organic materials charged with symbolic inferences. Resting upon a chair, animal fat—insofar as waste—becomes, at a symbolic level, the representation of human excrements. This process, not unlike Warhol’s own view, is inclined towards an art that is increasingly dependent on social, political and philosophical implications, which tend to analyze and call into question aspects of western culture. In his triptych Utarit also includes a detail from Tomato Head, an installation by Paul McCarthy comprised of a mannequin whose head is a gigantic tomato with eyes, a nose and a mouth, and with a long colorful parallelepiped in the place of a penis. The mannequin mimics Mr. Potato Head, a long-loved children’s toy created in the United States in the 1940s. By placing it at the center of a scene among scattered rubber penises and vaginas, gardening tools, fiberglass carrots and blocks—all objects that allude to sexual organs—Tomato Head dismantles the character of the original figure and transmits an unrest that transcends the innocence of the childhood toy. The installation thus calls into question the values of American society. By including these and other works within his altarpieces, Utarit con- fers the painter the role of art historian and critic, in addition to social analyst and philosopher. For an object to be considered art, it must necessarily be in line with the history of art, which it must always use as a point of reference, even when it claims to want to push away. At the same time, it is enough for a work to take on questions regarding history, science, sociology, philosophy and theology for it to make of its author a privileged spokesperson for these different disciplines. Compared to the individual categories of thought, art has the ability to amplify the symbolic meaning of the featured images or objects, charging them with inferences that transcend the thought of their very author.

The Artist as Theologian

The Annunciation confronts the relationship between religion and science. The The Annunciation, 2016, triptych central element of the representation is an anatomical mannequin with the Bud- Oil on canvas, 287 x 308 cm dha head, found also in Nescientia. The scene is set in a church, as indicated by the stain glass window behind the Buddha and by the Christian symbols present in the triptych. On the window is the representation of the moment in which the archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she would become the mother of Jesus. Superimposed upon this annunciation is that of the Buddha as he returns from Daovadung heaven, revealing to the living the truth of existence. The Buddha’s body is in the typical pose that recalls this event, but his bones, muscles, blood vessels and organs are exposed, as if he had been the object of an anatomical study. The deer at his feet allude to the place in which

126 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 127 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Knud Baade Scene from the Academy in Copenhagen, 1827–28 Oil on canvas, 33 x 58 cm National Gallery, Oslo

The Confession, 2013, polyptych Nescientia, 2014, triptych Nescientia, 2014, triptych (detail) (detail) (detail)

128 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 129 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon, a bedrock of Buddhist doctrine. Several The Annunciation, 2016, triptych (detail) kneeling worshippers extent their arms towards the object of their faith, though it is not clear if this is the crucifix, the Buddha, the saints and angels of Christian iconography or those of Thai tradition. Other men chat and whisper amongst themselves and appear to be either critical of or indifferent to it all. As previously noted, the Buddha in the central panel appears to have come from the anatomy dissection table of a scientist who is in search of the rational principle of all things. For science to move forward it must necessarily doubt acquired knowledge, whereas many religions are founded on revelations which, it has been agreed, must not be doubted. From their end, some scientists dismiss religious thought as irrational and turn this conviction into prejudice. Due to this difference in view, over the centuries religion and science have found numerous points of dispute that have yet to be mitigated. The flayed Buddha painted by Utarit recalls the iconography of an emaciated Buddha that alludes to a particular moment in the spiritual search of Gautama Buddha. He became aware that the ascetic practices for which he had undergone very strict deprivations had only weakened his body without offering him any spiritual benefit. He saw it fit to abandon them, to the great disappointment of his disciples who had shared in this experience. This narrative proves that the Buddha’s way of doing things was as free as a scientist who experiments without being imprisoned by fixed ideas. Between the annunciation of the Virgin Mary on the glass window and the Buddha mannequin emerges a crucifix whose summit reaches the highest point of the altarpiece, giving prominence to the INRI inscription, the initials for Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus the Nazarene King of the Jews), found in many representations of the crucifixion. The inscription was mandated by Roman law and referenced the motive behind the conviction. The condemnation of blasphemy issued by the supreme Jewish counsel against Jesus, accused of proclaiming himself as the son of God, was turned into a political sentence by the Romans for having challenged Imperial authority. It is known that the Church thereafter was no less savage towards those accused of heresy. Despite the presence of various religious symbols, revelations for which no supporting scientific evidence can be offered, and people with contrasting behaviors, this altarpiece does not transmit the sense of chaotic confusion found in Nescientia. Everything appears as though it can find its own place and coexist without one meaning prevailing over another, and without it coming off as heresy. Yet, the work does not illustrate an optimistic view, but rather a utopic one: yet again, Utarit focuses on the differences separating the various views of the world and on the inherent violence that comes along with wishing to impose one’s own view.

The Consequences of Choices

Utarit’s works convey the absurdity of confiding in a benevolent superior force that intercedes in order to resolve human affairs. Not accepting a divine view and maintaining that each of our choices conditions what will be of us calls into question the concept of optimism. At the same time, claiming that it is

130 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT absurd to be baselessly optimistic does not amount to being distressed. In this sense, Utarit’s thinking is substantially different from that of Søren Kierkegaard, whose personal experiences highlight how cultural matrixes influence the way in which we confront existence. Kierkegaard found the father figure to be the origin of irredeemable guilt. According to Kierkegaard, insofar as it is related to the imponderable, anxiety is the very essence of our existence as every choice has unpredictable consequences. This view of existence led him to explore despair and anxiety before taking a leap of faith. By observing, describing and analyzing the dynamics that come with the conditioning individuals are subjected to, Utarit claims that man can only find his salvation in his own actions. This idea, which is a unifying thread throughout all his work and is reverberated in the last two pieces of his altarpiece cycle, amounts to asserting that the solution to the crisis can be searched for only in oneself and within a human environment. The Silent Gateway confronts the importance of choices in the life of man. The triptych is a visual representation of the three worlds that the Buddha revealed to all living beings and it depicts an empty and silent place. This silence is so powerfully perceived that it invades the three naves driven towards three dark openings, each a different shape, through a perspectival game. At an iconographic level analogies can be drawn between the setting of Rogier van der Weyden’s Seven Sacra- ments Altarpiece (1445–50) or the illustrations of empty and unadorned churches by Dutch painter Pieter Jansz Saenredam (1597–1665), testaments of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Calvinist religious view which considered the veneration Rogier van der Weyden of sacred images to be idolatry and had art banished from churches. The spatial Seven Sacraments Altarpiece, 1445–50 Oil on panel, 200 x 223 cm breakthroughs in The Silent Gateway can also appear as doors leading to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp hereafter. If this were in fact true, according to the Christian narrative, the subsequent altarpiece painted by Utarit would have had to illustrate the revelation of the Apocalypse and the Wrath of God on the day of the Universal Judgement. This, however, is not what we find in The Introspection. The etymological meaning of the word apocalypse is “revelation,” though this term has long been inextricably related to the prophecy of the end of the world and the ultimate destiny of humanity. Upon first glance, The In- trospection appears to take the typical iconographical elements of Christian The Silent Gateway, 2016, triptych representations of the books of Revelation and Saint John. Yet, the revelation Oil on canvas, 287 x 308 cm Utarit wishes to present is quite different, as demonstrated by the writing on the scroll found in the central panel of the triptych: “All things are preceded by the mind, led by the mind, created by the mind.” The phrase refers to one of the Buddha’s teachings taken from the Dhammapada. Beneath the scroll, the hands of Buddha with the lotus assume the same centrality that the hands of God or Christ would in a Christian altarpiece. Below these reassuring images a battle is underway between men in black clothing—self-portraits of the artist—and demonic figures. This is an iconographic reference to Domenico Ghirlandaio’s St. Michael and the Angels (1480–85), a small panel from the fifteenth century that deals with another key theme in Christian iconography. At the same time,

132 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 133 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Opposite The Silent Gateway, 2016, triptych (detail)

Pieter Jansz Saenredam View of the ambulatory of St. Bavo at Haarlem, 1635 Oil on oak panel , 48.2 x 37.1 cm Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin

134 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT Partial view of the exhibition Optimism is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces Ayala Museum, Manila, 2017 138 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 139 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT On pages 138–139 the scene alludes to Gautama Buddha’s struggle against the temptations exposed The Introspection, 2016, triptych Oil on canvas, 250 x 374 cm to him by the demon Mara, the figure in Buddhism that comes closest to the Devil in Christianity. Like the devil, Mara comes across as someone who can Opposite The Introspection, 2016, triptych make wishes come true, creating delusions that are antagonistic to illumination. (detail) Partaking in this battle is all of humanity, represented by the skeletons of Adam and Eve who, seen from behind, take part in the conclusive act of the human experience, which began with them. In the first panel, which is dominated by somber colors, a skeleton clearly emerges, due to his light-colored bones, and brandishes a sickle. In western iconography this is a recurrent figure in representations of the apocalypse, which were true horror scenes meant to instill the terror of divine judgement after death. These images began to multiply in the middle of the fourteenth century, when a major plague epidemic rapidly spread through Europe, eliminating a third of the population. The terrified survivors perceived the Black Death as a divine punishment and as an admonition to mend their ways in preparation for an even harsher judgement. In some, the fear of Hell’s flames intensified religious sentiment and profoundly impacted their behavior. The breath of death could be felt by each individual, who in turn reacted accordingly. In a climate of under- standable collective distress, many tried to earn divine benevolence by donating their belongings to the Church and participating in processions, self-flagellations or pilgrimages, which ended up further spreading the epidemic. Some chose to live each moment of their lives as intensely as possible, without moral hes- itation. Others turned to magic or fake remedies that led them to believe they could escape death. While the recurring descriptions and representations of Hell frightened some and enriched a Church that fell short of its duties, the sense of impotence in the face of the plague elicited a religious crisis in a portion of the Statue of Death in Trier Cathedral, Germany, 17th century population, and a resulting change in mentality that gave rise to the vision of the Renaissance. While in European art, these representations found their justification in the conception of a God that intercedes in the lives of men, The Introspection intends to highlight that man is an artifice of his own destiny. The skeleton that threateningly holds onto a sickle complies with the canons of the triumph of death, though the presence of toy-like dragons around him, rather than presenting him as a true diabolic representation, likens him to a Carnival or Halloween costume, an extra in a pagan procession or the logo for a heavy metal rock band. The drama of the narrative is lost despite the presence in the lower left-hand panel of a man who holds his head in his hands in an act of despair. Eliminating the drama of the message that Christian iconography has attributed to this subject, and reproposing him as free of the eternal pain that man can face, amounts to providing a different view of death, one that is no longer a conclusive or eternal act, for better or for worse, but rather a moment of transformation. Utarit designed the entire cycle of altarpieces as a narrative comprised of stages, where each polyptych corresponds to a different clause within a single discourse. Through the iteration of images and concepts, he obtains a redundancy effect that contributes to amplifying meaning in the work. The choice to rely on an expressive form reminiscent of that of altarpieces does just that. Found in churches, altarpieces were meant to be instructive to all. While

140 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT The Introspection, 2016, triptych (detail)

Opposite The Introspection, 2016, triptych (detail)

their dimensions allowed them to be seen from afar, they also underscored the authority of their message by inspiring awe.

The Part and the Whole

Utarit does not intend to call into question the concepts of copies and originality. This is not the direction in which his work moves. The concept of originality, after all, was rendered entirely obso- lete throughout the course of the twentieth century. His poetics is far from that of western artists who, beginning in the late 1970s, took images from the iconographic reservoir of their own pasts only to change their meaning and validate their currency with the contribution of philosophy. This turning point is legitimized by the impact of the artist’s culture of origin and the way in which he takes images from Domenico Ghirlandaio different traditions and relates them to the history of colonization and global- St. Michael and the Angels, 1480–85 Panel, 15.9 x 41.3 cm ization, seen through the lens of a Thai artist who is well-acquainted with the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI risks and effects of colonization in Southeast Asia. Utarit approaches reality by means of isolated fragments, though the final image is more than the sum of its individual parts. These altarpieces, imbued with cultured references and different, oftentimes contrasting, narratives, allow for the comingling of different styles in a unified body, making them paradoxi- cally homogenous despite the original differences that distinguish them.

143 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT 1 This phenomenon had particular implica- throne with the Virgin Mary and St. John the 13 Michael Wright takes on this topic in his tions in China. In the second half of the 1980s, Baptist at his side. Beside them are angels who book Tawantok Vikrit Christa – Sasana (“The with the end of China’s Cultural Revolution, sing and play instruments while, on the outer Western and Christianity in crisis”, published the Chinese translation of Ernst Gombrich’s panels, Adam and Eve remind us of human- in 1999 in Thai by the publishing house Mati- The Story of Art provided Chinese artists with kind’s fall into sin. chon Publishing, Bangkok. The book was never sufficient information to form opinions and 5 Elizabeth I in England and Louis XV in translated into English). The theory which is theories surrounding the West, which they France. referred to in the note appears on page 5 of based on scientific data. At the same time, 6 For more on this topic, see Clement Green- the last paragraph in the book. Born in 1940 China’s exposure towards foreign nations berg’s essays A Newer Laocoon (1940) and in Southampton, England, Wright moved to fostered a greater knowledge of the Chinese Modernist Painting (1961). Bangkok in 1961, where he lived for 45 years culture in the West. 7 Duchamp declares: “I love those Cranachs. I under the name Mek Meneewaja. He also 2 Christians believe in one God in three persons: love them. Cranach, the old man. The tall nudes. taught at Thammasat University, one of the the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The [The] nature and substance of his nudes inspired nation’s two main academic institutions. three divine people (the Trinity) are one single me for the flesh color.” In La Mariée mise à nu 14 Natee Utarit, The Dwarf in my experience, God as each is identical to the fullness of divine par ses célibataires, même (Boîte Verte). from the artist’s personal journal, entry dated nature, both unmatched and indivisible; yet, in 8 In the short film directed by René Clair, pro- April 23, 2017, quoted here on page 246. reality, they are also different from one another tagonists Francis Picabia, Erick Satie, Marcel 15 Natee Utarit, conversation with the artist, by virtue of the relationships which bring them Duchamp and Man Ray make their appearance Manila, January 19, 2017. to reciprocally refer to one another: the Father on the rooftops of Paris. 16 Natee Utarit and Hermann Nitsch, Existence produces the Son, the Son is produced by the 9 Picabia wrote the libretto for Relache and & Senses, exhibition at the Galerie Zimmer- Father, and the Holy Spirit is generated from created for his performance a kaleidoscopic mann Kratochwill, Graz, July–September 2017. the Father and the Son. game of light. Set to the music of Erick Satie 17 Natee Utarit, conversation with the artist, 3 The Eucharist is one of the Sacraments of the and choreographed by Jean Börlin, the show Manila, 19 January 2017. Church, in which the substance of the body, concludes with the projection of a short film 18 To read more on this topic, see Natee Utarit, blood and divinity of Jesus Christ are mirac- by René Clair. Memento mori, 2016, an inedited text written ulously contained in the form of bread and 10 Paul Poiret (1879–1944) was a leading Parisian on the occasion of the exhibition Existence wine. They comprise the visible and effective couturier who was also a collector of avant-gar- & Senses, at the Galerie Zimmermann Kra- signs of divine Grace, instituted by Christ and de works. A friend of Francis Picabia, Maurice tochwill, Graz. Published in this volume on page 245. entrusted to the Church. There are seven Sac- Vlaminck and André Derain, he owned works 19 See in particular Demetrio Paparoni, Cristo e raments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, by Picasso, Matisse, Dufy, Rouault and Utrillo, l’impronta dell’arte, Skira, Milan 2015, whose Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and used the vibrant colors of the Nabis and English translation by Julia Haim is published and Matrimony. the Fauvists in his own sartorial creations. He in La Sindone e l’impronta dell’arte, Museo 4 The narrative begins when the altarpiece is is also known to have found inspiration for his Civico di San Sepolcro, Skira, Milan 2015. closed: towards the top is the depiction of the designs in the Russian Ballet ever since its first 20 Natee Utarit, Memento mori, 2016, op cit. prophets and sibyls who announced the coming appearance in Paris in 1909. 21 Jean-Paul Sartre, Un théâtre de situation, Gal- of Christ, he who will redeem humanity from 11 The nine etchings were made to accompany limard, Paris 1973. sin. Towards the center is the Annunciation of the two volumes The Large Glass and Related the birth of Christ to Mary, his mother, by the Works by Arturo Schwarz. Schwarz writes that Archangel Gabriel. Finally, on the lower panels seven of the nine etchings of the first volume is a portrait of the Vjidts, the commissioners refer to the seven major elements of the Large of the work, as they devoutly kneel before the Glass. state of St. John the Baptist and St. John the 12 Hélène Parmelin, Voyage en Picasso, Robert Evangelist. When the altarpiece is open, proph- Laffont, Paris 1980, p. 71. (Eng. trans. Rosa- ecy is brought to fruition. In the upper central lind Krauss, The Optical Unconscious, The MIT portion of the polyptych, we find Christ on his Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, p. 202.)

Natee Utarit, Bangkok, 2016 Photo Krisada Suvichakonpong

145 | THE PERILS OF OPTIMISM. THE ART OF NATEE UTARIT OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS

Partial view of the exhibition Optimism is Ridiculous Gallery Hyundai, Korea, 2013 “The series Optimism is Ridiculous is about my personal attitudes and points of view towards the surrounding community, which I try to interpret in order to give it a meaning. All items and all persons I use as models are real. I have to control painting methods in all steps, starting from the search for models, items for scene decoration, and anything else, according to details or previously indicated name of my works. This process is used in the Illustration of the Crisis series of works as well. However, the new series of works are more complicated and difficult to prepare. This is because I would like my final paintings to be both realistic and full of feeling, more than any of my previous series of works.”

Untitled, 2012 Oil on linen, 63 x 50 cm

148 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 149 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “We can never think like people in the past. All we can do is evaluate their ideas and thoughts, and we may try to understand, borrow and use them under our own rationale, but we can never be able to comprehend or explain them entirely and completely, especially under the context that we’re in.”

Aesthetic of Condemnation No. 1, 2012 Oil on linen, 100 x 150 cm

150 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 151 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Ancient works with tradition and historical value are still appropriate to present my belief in my artworks. In today’s art world, where generalization of art is common, I find that going back to the past in search for values allows me to spend time pondering with more clarity over things which are supposed to happen in the future.”

Aesthetic of Condemnation No. 2, 2012 Oil on linen, 60 x 80 cm

152 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 153 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “A romantic perception where things are perceived for their beauty or from a beautiful aspect can really disappoint you.”

Aesthetic of Condemnation No. 3, 2012 Oil on linen, 140 x 122 cm

154 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 155 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Study No. 4, 2012 Oil on linen, 40 x 30 cm

Aesthetic of Condemnation No. 4, 2012 Oil on linen, 160 x 140 cm

156 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 157 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “This series of works are the results of the Illustration of the Crisis series of 2010–12. Those works drove me to study and try to understand painting presentation using the same ‘grammar’ as that of ancient paintings. I think it is appropriate to use this to discuss complicated topics and specific meanings, such as telling an ancient story which shows emotion, feeling, as well as methods for communication through symbols that have impressed me. Also, I tried to use it again with my series Optimism is Ridiculous, by changing the story point of view, from an external stimulus to an internal view and interpretation.”

Study No. 1, 2012 Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

158 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 159 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Art and design are one and the same. What makes them different is ‘the question.’ Design does not find the solution for the creator. Rather, it finds for others the solution to the question that was also created by/for others. However, ART is created from the question that one must select oneself, finding those particular solutions through artworks. Therefore, works with good design are as valuable as magnificent artworks. Artworks that cannot answer a question are works with bad design.”

Pheasant, 2012 Oil on linen, 50 x 40 cm

160 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 161 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Study No. 3, 2012 Study No. 2, 2012 Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm

162 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 163 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Regardless of the context or the society we live in, it has become increasingly hard to distinguish ‘what’s true’ from ‘what isn’t’ because everything is designed to make us think that it’s real. Oddly enough, it is the pictorial language of Western painting of centuries past and its obligation to answer such basic questions as who? what? where? how? that can more accurately depict the murky, complex atmosphere that surrounds the events of the present. I have particular admiration for two or three old masters and their ability to tell amazingly complex stories.”

Innocence Is Overrated, 2012 Oil on linen, 180 x 160 cm

164 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 165 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Politicians always say that political problems must be solved by politics, which is correct. Then Art can only act as an observer and present aspects of truth based on the Artist’s attitude only. Politics is about power, greed, and changes. We cannot stop those matters and create peace using only Art. Painting may convey positive aspects of any matter in order to let us perceive that. However, I do not believe that it poses power and extends to political issues and causes any change as well. Art is Art. It contains huge power which regards only the Art context or things related with it. Artists bring other issues, including politics, into the world of Art instead of taking Art out to fight in the political world.”

Innocence Is Overrated, 2012 Oil on linen, 170 x 120 cm

166 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 167 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Most people consider Asian art to be related to the mind and feeling, and Western art to truth and science. John Constable said of Chinese paintings that ‘The Chinese have painted for 2000 years, but they have not discovered that there is such a thing as chiaroscuro.’ To me, it is a statement to all art that western knowledge is correct and united. Therefore, we find that some Asian artists do believe that. Working with complex ideas and to present truths is not a strength of Asian art. Asian art should present feelings related to religious and local beliefs. Actually, Asian art is viewed in the same manner as Westerners view Asian or African people.”

Innocence Is Overrated, 2012 Oil on linen, 150 x 100 cm

168 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 169 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “If we compare painting to language, every painting can be expressed in terms of a subject-verb-object sentence, with paintings differing in the number of modifiers added to this basic pattern. In some cases, this sentence can be stretched to the length of an entire paragraph. In others, the sentence is little more than a bare-bones phrase. It all depends on the demands of the elements needed to turn the sentence into pictorial language. The various meanings contained in an individual painting are a mechanism through which the artist who composes the sentence in pictorial terms is able to express the complexity of his or her message.”

Innocence Is Overrated, 2012 Oil on linen, 170 x 120 cm

170 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 171 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “There are several pieces in the series that have the word ‘innocence’ in their titles. I like the word and have used it largely and intentionally in all of my works, whether it’s the Innocence Is Overrated or Innocence Is Underrated series. I am particularly interested in the meaning of the word ‘innocence,’ because there are so many aspects for you to look at. There are different levels of interpretation and comprehension that vary according to our experiences and the way we see the world. ‘Innocence’ can be just a state that no longer exists in the present world. Nevertheless, such perception and interpretation can be just an individual evaluation of the things we see.”

Innocence Is Overrated, 2012 Oil on linen, 200 x 150 cm

172 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 173 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS The Man Who Is a Pessimist Before 48 Knows Too Much; If He Is an Optimist After It, He Knows Too Little, 2012 Oil on linen, 100 x 240 cm

174 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 175 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Venus Flytrap, 2013 Oil on linen, 35 x 30 cm

Tragical Beauty, 2013 Oil on linen, 122 x 140 cm

176 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 177 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “The past I am talking about is basically a way of thinking and value assessment with the society and the media acting as the key factors. It’s the same with the art world. I have faith in old thoughts and the way art used to be valued, and spiritually connected to the human mental values and soul. My works are pretty much like a dialectic conversation between the two ideas.”

Innocence Is Overrated, 2013 Oil on linen, 140 x 130 cm

178 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 179 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “I still use conventional methods for painting when a model is necessary for my work.”

Innocence Is Overrated, 2013 Oil on linen, 200 x 150 cm

180 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 181 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “My work intends to present myth and the ambiguity of existence. Definitely, I have my own answer about what is going on. However, I prefer to let viewers interpret from their own experience and attitude.”

Innocence Is Underrated, 2013 Oil on linen, 160 x 140 cm

182 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 183 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “You can categorize my working process into three different aspects: inspiration, content, artistic communication. From my perspective, these three things don’t have to be the same. Working on an artistic creation is a logical process, but it is not the same kind of logic used with mathematics. So there are times when inspiration doesn’t appear in the work at all. Inspiration can be just the beginning of a development, which can eventually lead to the finished outcome; a form of artistic presentation. It’s the same thing when Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation from the fall of an apple. The apple is just an inspiration, whereas the content or the essence has nothing to do with the taste of the apple at all.”

Faith and Doubt, 2013 Oil on linen, 160 x 140 cm

184 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 185 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Wag the Dog, 2013 Oil on linen, 80 x 200 cm

186 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 187 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “When I work, I usually draw or paint things following words, sentences or phrases that I am thinking about or find interesting. To simply put it, I name my work before I start the drawing or painting process.”

Even If Snake Is Not Poisonous, It Should Pretend to Be Venomous, 2013 Oil on linen, diameter 50 cm

188 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 189 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “I cherish the past and appreciate the value of ancient arts. Art from past centuries embodies a certain narrative quality that translates from artwork to viewer regardless of man’s ability to fully understand the beauty of the artworks. My artworks reflect my beliefs and respect for the old masters as I truly believe that it is through reflecting on the past that we can move forward in the development of fine art today. I enjoy studying old paintings and learning to adapt the traditional techniques to my own artworks. In my point of view, ideas alone can’t contribute to the development of fine art, as there are several distinctive elements.”

Age of Anxiety, 2013 Oil on linen, 150 x 114 cm

190 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 191 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Luxury Purity, 2013 Luxury Purity, 2013 Oil on linen, 150 x 100 cm Oil on linen, 150 x 100 cm

192 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 193 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS All Things Truly Wicked Start All Things Truly Wicked Start from Innocence, 2013 from Innocence, 2013 Oil on linen, 130 x 114 cm Oil on linen, 130 x 114 cm

194 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 195 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Who can explain the reasons behind the changing taste in the beauty of the body that has evolved throughout history? The skinny and slender women of present time might be burnt alive during the Middle Age for they could be perceived and judged using another set of social requirements. We are now rejecting the Renaissance beauty and glorifying the fairness of the Middle Age witches.”

Death Makes Angels, 2013 Oil on linen, 50 x 63 cm

196 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 197 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Any artwork that is called as such clearly for political purposes must have many components and environmental characteristics, including the political intent of the artist. Politics touches every social aspect in the country where I live. Everything is driven by political ideas and feelings. Political attitude is important to make something happen or be destroyed easily. You may not understand this fragile social condition. However, in Bangkok, most people do not discuss about politics and power. It is not that they are not interested, but it makes them feel purposeless and insecure. This is because politics in this country is based on conflict. Thus, everyone is looking for reliability from the Royal institution to make them feel warmer, safer, and more familiar.”

Over the Table, 2013 Oil on linen, 94 x 82 cm

198 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 199 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Optimism is Ridiculous, 2013 Surprise, 2013 Oil on linen, 180 x 60 cm Oil on linen, 180 x 160 cm

200 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 201 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Black Angel, 2013 Oil on linen, 30 x 40 cm

Duck Birds, 2013 Oil on linen, 160 x 180 cm

202 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 203 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Popcorn Moment, 2013 Popcorn Moment, 2013 Oil on linen, 100 x 70 cm Oil on linen, 100 x 70 cm

204 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 205 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Most of the time, my inspirations come from life; life in society and the world I live in. You can see traces of inspiration in my artistic expression. You might not be able to explain them by making a symbolic comparison, because they are not directly translated from my inspirations. I believe that each artistic creation has its own attitudes, and you may be able to see them in my work without having to deconstruct the entire details of the work at all.”

I Am Beautiful, Famous and Gorgeous, 2013 Oil on linen, 150 x 110 cm

206 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 207 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Several people perceive my works as sarcastic, since I use funny painting to explain tense and serious issues. I think this is not an ironic method, but it helps to explain what is going on using one particular kind of painting language.”

I Am Gorgeous, 2013 Oil on linen, 140 x 150 cm

208 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 209 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Restraint and Solitude, 2013 Oil on linen, 200 x 134 cm

Nickel, 2013 Oil on linen, 40 x 50 cm

210 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 211 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Beyond the View Master, 2014 I Saw the Future, 2014 Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm

212 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 213 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “It can be said that I act as an observer using my own internal perspective. I look at and interpret the political situation and the mental condition of present-day society. Political analyses come from the interpretation of symbols and connect meanings in paintings to actual situations. Surely, this is what I would like to say and present.”

Greeting From a Stranger, 2014 Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 40.5 cm

214 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 215 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Presage, 2014 Greeting From a Stranger No. 2, 2014 Oil on linen, 50 x 40 cm Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 40.5 cm

216 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 217 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS The Ambassador, 2014 The Dream of Melancholy Soul Oil on canvas, 50 x 75 cm and the Darkest Side of Hope, 2014 Oil on canvas, 50 x 75 cm

218 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 219 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Some people still understand that my works are related to paintings as photo realism because I use photos as part of the process to create models as well. Actually, my works have very different presentations and purposes to those of photo realism.”

Investor, 2014 Oil on linen, 50 x 40 cm

220 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 221 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Follower, 2015 Oil on linen, 150 x 100 cm

“I have been interested in paintings from the sixteenth- seventeenth centuries because they uphold certain characteristics that really make me feel the intensity and enthusiasm that people were driven by in their search for truth and to reach their own spiritual fulfilment through their beliefs and faith. I feel that this has a tremendous effect on the evolution and intensity of my artistic production. It is quite hard to explain how my personal preferences for a certain artistic style is then transmuted and transformed into artistic creations.”

222 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 223 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Thin Line, 2015 Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm

The Thin Line Between Faith and Foolishness, 2015 Oil on linen, 140 x 160 cm

224 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 225 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “The Illustration of the Crisis series was based on the what- when-where-why-how concept, in accordance with artworks of the past centuries. Artworks might differ in details, but it seemed that they were all created to reflect the political crisis as a major concern. I often publicly maintain—regarding my Illustration of the Crisis series of works, as well as my previous works—that my works are not political art and I am not a political artist, by giving many reasons. The most important reason is that ‘my works are not created for the political purposes of any party.’ My works only reflect an ambiguous, stressed, and discouraged condition as a result of political conflicts in our country.”

Conservative Termination, 2015 Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

226 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 227 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Dead Duck Principle, 2015 The Messenger, 2015 Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

228 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 229 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “My works are somewhat illustrations of words, sentences or phrases that I come across, be it in books, articles, interviews or the urban vocabulary (I particularly like the last one). Sometimes, they are interesting but obscure, ambiguous words or phrases. Sometimes, they are funny proverbs or sayings that reflect the reality of the present.”

Blind Duck, 2015 Oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm

230 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 231 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Duck, 2015 Oil on canvas, 70 x 120 cm

232 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 233 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS Study, 2013 Oil on linen, 40 x 30 cm

Doubt is Greater Mischief Than Despair, 2015 Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm

234 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 235 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “Artists always use photos as part of the process of creating models since the nineteenth century. If we look back to the seventeenth century, the camera obscura is an example. I am interested in the relationship between photos and paintings, regarding history and physical objects. Thus, during 1999–2002, I started to create paintings about photos, or paintings trying to be photos. Many series of my works during that period gave me ideas and created hypotheses for my later work development.”

Curiosity Killed the Cat, 2015 Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm

236 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 237 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS “I frequently used anatomical models in my works and medical models gave me a strange feeling that was hard to explain. I could feel the nerve in the silence and the horror in the beauty. I totally enjoyed creating my works under the ambiguous conflict concept. The state of nervousness or doubt was a conceptual one, I therefore searched for something that could represent those abstract concepts. Anatomical models were perfect for me to create those conceptual artworks.”

Fallen Devil, 2016 Oil on linen, 90 x 80 cm

238 | OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS 239 / OPTIMISM IS RIDICULOUS WRITINGS BY THE ARTIST Optimism is Ridiculous, 2012 until the 1970s. I noticed changes in esthetic tastes may be a part of my genetic legacy. All I know of all those faces I saw on the subway car. In fact, It’s not just my assumption that most people need life today makes everything seem right and beau- that reflected changes in the way people lived their is that I have these conflicting feelings between it’s nothing other than a portrait of myself. to believe that things are the way we hope they tiful. Romantics see themselves as exceptions for I’ve never really managed to come up with a com- lives, and it’s because of these changes that I be- pride and a sense of inferiority, between admi- are in order to make themselves happy. But then whom anything is possible. But to me, such a view pletely satisfying explanation for why I’ve become gan to experience these feelings of nostalgia—a ration and contempt, between acceptance and (This unpublished text was written on June 13, we can’t deny that always looking at life through of life verges on the ludicrous. Who knows, maybe so obsessed with Western paintings from centu- longing for the past. Like certain other people, I’m rejection. 2013 and appeared on the wall during the exhibi- rose-colored glasses doesn’t teach us much of anyone day in the future, looking at the world from ries past. When I was working on the series Illus- not particularly happy with the present, and I have I’ve had the chance to travel in Europe a tion Optimism is Ridiculous, held at Gallery Hyun- thing about how to live our lives in the world as it a realistic or satirical perspective will be just as tration of the Crisis, I saw these old paintings as real fears for the future. And looking back at myself number of times over the past couple of years, dai, Seoul, South Korea, October 10 – November is today—a world where reality is so much more ridiculous as the romantic view is today. merely one method or one kind of pictorial syntax from the perspective of people around me, I real- and every time I’ve gone, I’ve found that being 3, 2013) intense and so radically different from the past. that was particularly well-suited to the complex ize I’ve become a pessimistic traditionalist. Lately surrounded by “Westernness” brings me such de- In one of my favorite books, The Medium Is (From the artist’s personal journal, entry dated meanings I was trying to get across. After sev- I’ve begun to feel that my paintings are a closer light in all the things around me. I feel delight in the the Massage, authors McLuhan and Fiore include June 9, 2013) eral more years of study, I eventually discovered expression of who I am personally, and this makes West, but does the West take delight in me? My Optimism is Ridiculous, 2013 many thoughts and images taken from a variety of that what gave these old works of art their lasting me happy. Within the still lifes, portraits, pictures hunch is that the feelings aren’t really reciprocated sources to explicate interesting observations about value wasn’t just the result of the artists’ skill or of animals and landscapes that make up this series since sometimes I’ve felt a bit of mild hostility. But If you describe things as better than they are, the nature of the media and communication in the The Altarpieces, 2014–16 the manner of expression. It was something much of works, there is a great deal that reflects my per- when I’m on the metro, surrounded by lots of other you are thought a romantic. If you describe modern age. This book had a tremendous influence harder to explain—something intangible. It was a sonal attitudes. I only hope that the paintings have foreigners scrambling to make a life for themselves things as worse than they are, you are thought a on how I see the world. It convinced me that things This series of paintings entitled The Altarpieces feeling that radiated within and around the paint- enough power to express these things. in the West, I feel a real kinship. Every time I look in realist. If you describe things as exactly as they can never go back to the way they were. We can takes as its inspiration the paintings that have tra- ings themselves. I’m tempted to call this special Or am I seriously overestimating my abilities their faces, I feel as though I’m looking at my own are, then you are thought a satirist. never look at the world again in the same old way. ditionally adorned the altars of Christian churches. quality “spirit,” simply for want of a better word to as an artist? reflection in this giant mirror of reality. Quentin Crisp (1908–1999) Even though McLuhan and Fiore were writing in These works have a long history, one that stretch- capture exactly what it is I’m trying to say. The only place in France where I felt a gen- the 1960s, many of the ideas current in the world es back almost to the very beginnings of Western In this latest series of paintings, I have tried (Natee Utarit, October 31, 2012. Artist’s note for uine sense of pride in being Asian was along the For my most recent exhibition in Singapore, I called today can trace their origins back to this decade. painting. Altarpieces have always dealt with reli- to fill the canvases with the desired images and Optimism is Ridiculous, in the exhibition catalogue, Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, where the great one of my paintings The man who is a pessimist But as times change, our view of the world be- gious subject matter, portraying Christian legends with what I call “spirit.” In the contemporary world, Richard Koh Fine Art, Singapore, January 22 – Feb- department stores Galeries Lafayette and Prin- before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after comes confused, and none of the theories of the and myths, and foregrounding the sanctity of Chris- where the term “traditionalism” is being reinter- ruary 22, 2013) temps are located. This is the only place where it he knows too little. The canvas shows a fox star- past can satisfactorily explain the times we live in tian ritual. They are paintings filled with meaning preted and where a world that rejects convention is being Asian is valued. Dropping into shops along ing at its own reflection in a mirror. I am very fond now. It seems to me that we live in a society that and have always played an important role in giving becoming the new mainstream, I’ve got countless the boulevard, I would always receive an especially of this sentence. It expresses something that is requires constant assessment and interpretation. tangible form to key tenets of the Christian faith. questions about how well my work can succeed We Are Asia, 2013 warm welcome—no place more so than at Long- very true generally and very true for me personally. Information abroad in the world and all the possibil- In my paintings here I offer an interpreta- in finding a space in which to express itself while champ, LV and Hermès. The number of Asians in I am now 43 years old. I consider myself ities in the society around us have started to make tion of the world and various beliefs that appear in employing methods dating back hundreds of years. The first painting called We Are Asia was shown this part of the city made me feel right at home. I to be an existentialist and a pessimist. My philo- people look for their own version of truth, their own the Western world from my own Asian perspec- My inspiration comes from numerous quar- in Singapore in January 2013 as part of the exhi- had this strange sense of warmth in Longchamp sophical beliefs were shaken for a while when it individual sense of reality, and consequently, we tive. This is a perspective that has been shaped ters. There is a scene in Derek Jarman’s film about bition Optimism is Ridiculous. The picture shows where the sales assistants were French and Chi- seemed to me that the only existentialists in the are living lives subject to our own conditions and by Western thinking and the spread of Western the life of Caravaggio that I absolutely love. The a little person dressed in Western attire from the nese. They told me that more than 50% of the twenty-first century were tired of old conservatives for own personal reasons. imperialism which began centuries ago. These film is an exploration and reinterpretation of the sixteenth or seventeenth century. Around him are bags they sold were purchased by Asians like me. who were never satisfied with anything—people Society today is infinitely more complex paintings present a view of God, the world around Italian master’s life, and in one scene, Caravag- an assortment of objects closely connected with I couldn’t help but think that maybe Longchamp unhappy with a world of rapidly changing social than it was in the past—so complex, in fact, that us, and contemporary events, filtered through my gio is shown talking with one of his models while him and meanings associated with the sentence made bags specifically for Asian customers. and cultural conditions, a world where we seem I often tell friends that for contemporary artists, own Buddhist beliefs. They, therefore, show trac- standing next to a pick-up truck! We Are Asia, which serves as the title of the work. In the Hermès shop, there were lots of fel- to have so many more choices than in the past. abstract art may no longer have the potential to es of religious thinking on core issues like death, Yes, that’s right. Caravaggio is standing be- We Are Asia is an example of discourse low Thais, and I had an even greater feeling of Sometimes I have a distinct impression that I know communicate the complexity of ideas in modern injustice, and human suffering. And while there are side a 1960s pick-up truck! which expresses a sense of pride in one’s identi- warmth and familiarity. I had a stronger sense of too many things, but just as often I feel as if I don’t society. It may have outlived its usefulness. The similarities with a number of Western conceptions, I can’t begin to tell you the kind of impact ty. I first saw it used in the context of art at the Art pride in my Asianness than I had never experi- know anything at all. But then maybe there isn’t world around us consists of several layers of real- like memento mori, which are meant to remind us that scene had on me. It left me no choice but to Stage exhibition in 2011. The sentence had certain- enced before. It made me want to get on the next really much difference between knowing and not ity and un-reality, and each of these levels serves of certain elemental truths, different perspectives look for an answer to a very important question: ly been used before in the context of economics, plane to Bangkok, and it gave me the idea to do a knowing. After all, knowing too much makes it hard the purpose of a specific social and cultural group. on the causes and means of eliminating suffering how can we break down closed doors with the tourism and sports, although personally the words series of paintings that recalled these rather rare for us to face the truth. It changes our perspective This complexity and diversity in today’s world force ensure that these are only surface similarities. splendor of art that seems to be at a dead end? Of had never really resonated much with me. feelings of ethnic pride. on the world around us, and as a result, what we me to constantly assess, interpret, and assign a All of the paintings in the series The Altar- course, this changed my work and made it impos- I don’t understand why the sentence nev- My mother-in-law saw a midget in a super- value and find meaningful in life changes, too. meaning to the things that confront me. Today, pieces speak about these issues in one way or sible for me to go back to conceptual painting, or er really inspired feelings of pride in me. Strange, market in Bangkok and tried to convince him to Being a pessimist doesn’t mean that I’m when anyone says anything to you, even a single, another. Through a range of differing subject mat- any of the other styles I had worked in before. Each maybe, given that I have such intense feelings pose for me since she knew I was looking for always miserable, at least not when I compare simple sentence, you may need to consider the ters, all of the works are meant as an examination of my paintings was suddenly about something; about the history and culture of my native—a civ- someone like him to paint. In the end, he agreed myself with other people and the common unhap- various possible meanings of that sentence, and of my beliefs and my attitude toward the notion of every canvas told a story. By employing a pictorial ilization as rich and diverse as any country in the and things worked out very well. I painted him in piness they face. I’m always asking the people what you end up with is a multiplicity of possible god and goodness in today’s world. They also pose syntax from centuries past—a syntax that genuine- West. People are always saying that Asians are a number of poses, from portraits to full-length around me if we aren’t looking at things too op- meanings that go far beyond the actual words of questions about the nature of human identity in a ly captivated me—I found a goal, something for my afraid of farang (Westerners) and I’ve seen this pictures in Western costumes from various peri- timistically. Is everything we see really as beauti- the utterance. This is especially true when you add world where the lines separating different ideas paintings to achieve. demonstrated on numerous occasions. There are ods in history. I had bought a number of different ful as it seems? These kinds of questions aren’t in the context and specific environment in which and sets of beliefs have all but vanished. At the same time, though, I couldn’t help abundant examples from the history of my own outfits and accessories when I was in Europe and meant to destroy people’s faith; they are just a the sentence was spoken and received. but wonder whether this wasn’t just some foolish country. Asian people share a common attitude fortunately, they fit him perfectly. reflection of our uncertainty and loss of belief in Back when society was less confusing, most Altarpiece 1 – When Adam Delved and Eve hope of a painter who grew up in the 1970s. toward the West, only varying slightly with the his- Everything that appears in my painting ex- the reality right there in front of us. people valued forthrightness and honesty. Today, Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman? For me, the 1970s were a period of change. torical period and the particular situation. Asians, presses my attitude toward that catchphrase We In reality, whether we’re optimists or pessi- though, the definitions of these terms have been This way of thinking gave me the inspiration to In the West, people may trace the start of the especially those in Southeast Asia, are intimidated Are Asia. It conveys the conflicting feelings inside mists, it’s all a matter of the imagination and how stretched and expanded to suit specific contexts address these concerns more directly in my work. modern era back to the 1950s, but for people in by Westerners. It’s a fear that has carried over from me—the pride and the shame, the sense of pro- we think and feel about the things we see. Being and situations that reflect changing views of ethics This was after my efforts to portray the confusion Asia and other parts of the Third World, I’m sure the period of Western colonialism perhaps. priety and the contempt. All of the feelings have an optimist means imagining a world filled with and morality in the modern world. That’s why I I felt as I struggled to answer questions about my that the first clear signs of some new world order What I’m saying is that I myself may have been given a voice in this portrait of a self-assured hope, while pessimists view the world from an don’t really hold with those who look at the world own identity in the series We Are Asia and Opti- coming to sweep away the old didn’t really appear traces of what is called the “colonized mind.” It little person. In the end, though, it’s also a portrait angle that many of us would rather not ponder. in an optimistic way. To take a romantic view of mism is Ridiculous from 2012–13.

242 | WRITINGS BY THE ARTIST 243 | WRITINGS BY THE ARTIST At that time the images I created conveyed dimension to painting and a hierarchy that brings Eve span who was then the gentleman?”—ques- Altarpiece 4 – Passage to the Song of Truth and Memento Mori, 2016 voking and arousing vice and original sin in man. mixed feelings of pride and embarrassment. a sense of completeness or fullness to the world. tion the foundations of feudalism and the power Absolute Equality However, in Buddhist theology, the Devil is similar Through the image of a dwarf decked out in a regal The content of these paintings allows the view- and privilege of the aristocracy. Ball’s declaration This altarpiece painting was inspired by an old tra- This series of paintings was completed while I to Mara which is buddhistically defined as a vice Western uniform from centuries past I was able to er’s perception to range through a progression of recalls the Biblical story of the creation of Adam ditional European painting from the Middle Ages, was working on a larger series of works called that originates from within the human mind. It is portray the central figure’s sense of pride in wearing historical periods. As I worked on the new paint- and Eve. According to Ball, when God created the Danse Macabre. Altarpieces between 2013 and 2016. I found what man fantasizes about and makes up in his such elegant attire. Yet there are signals in these ings, I discovered an ever widening chasm that first man and first woman, there was no oppres- The original theme presents the death as the inspiration from a number of elements associated mind due to his desires and cravings that drives paintings that hint at the dwarf’s awareness that he would need to be bridged if I were to succeed in sion, no exploitation, no bondage or servitude— Divine equality among all classes of people, repre- with my work on Altarpieces. I borrowed some of humans to commit sins until their next lives. Thus, could, at the same time, be a figure of ridicule in the conveying the complexities growing out of my only equality. It was not until the rise of human sented by emperors, princes, ladies and beggars. the same subject matter and the same techniques man is defeated by Mara, as he gives birth to Mara eyes of a Western audience. After all, dwarfs were choice of form and subject matter. Consequently, society that suffering and degradation, born from I created this altar starting from that concept but applied them to works of a smaller scale. cerebrally. clowns and jesters—figures of fun—at the courts my interest in altarpieces ultimately grew to en- inequality, became the lot of the majority. and added to the painting some more buddhist Many of the paintings were inspired by of Europe for centuries, and were seen as freaks compass their historical context and their role in While I have retained the original form of the content taken from Tripitaka. Five words of Abhi- ongoing dialogues with European paintings from (From the artist’s personal journal, entry dated May in Western circuses. This contradiction between religion and ritual, a role dating back to the very famous rhyme, I have expanded its meaning to na-Paccavekkhana (five subjects that all people the fourteenth-seventeenth centuries dealing with 13, 2016) pride and belittlement has been the subject of beginnings of human civilization, when humans incorporate trends in the modern world. As cap- should constantly bear in mind) appear on the step Christian subject matters. In these works I have much of my work. In 2009, the series Amusement first sought to make a place for art in their lives italism and globalization overwhelm cultures and at the bottom of every figure in the painting. attempted to reinterpret the Christian messages by of Dreams, Hope and Perfection explored the per- and their culture. traditions all around the globe, I have created a con- The five words are: looking at them from a Buddhist perspective. As Fallen Devil, 2016 vasive influence of Western culture on present-day For a Western viewer, an altarpiece is more temporary work that includes the figures of Adam 1. JARADHAMMATA: We are subject to aging and in the case of their reminder of the inevitability of Thailand. The painting Western Light (2007) exam- than just an ordinary painting. The composition of and Eve together with two men whose appearance can not escape it. death—memento mori—the two religions teach a Fallen Devil is a painting from my constantly-de- ined a similar theme. And a series of images of The elements and the context in which these paintings suggests they occupy positions of authority. They 2. BYADHIDHAMMATA: We are subject to similar lesson. veloping series Optimism is Ridiculous, which Metropolitan Museum shopping bags in a range of have traditionally existed link them to notions of are surrounded by objects with links to different pain and illness and cannot escape them. In Buddhism, our destiny is determined began in 2012 and continues to the present day. colors (2007–08) was intended to depict the com- sanctity and faith, just as certain types of paint- periods in Western history—objects that hold a 3. MARANADHAMMATA: We are subject to death by our karma, which is the total effect of all our This painting demonstrates the idea of “vice” de- mercialization and commodification of art resulting ings are intricately tied to many of the religions of real fascination for the people of Asia today. In and cannot escape it. thoughts and actions. Happiness and sadness, picted through the image of the Devil, which is from the rise of Western capitalism. Asia. The sanctity that is attached to these altar- the painting there are a number of contemporary 4. PIYAVINABHAVATA: We must inevitably be sep- heaven and hell are not the creations of a god. treated as vulnerable and broken though it is still My exploration of the cultural dislocations pieces is conveyed to me, an outsider to Western symbols that suggest a certain interpretation. One arated from all people and things that we love. There is no divinity who bestows wealth and horrifying and nightmarish. The image of the devil, affecting everyday life in Thailand only intensified culture and Western traditions, through various is Eve’s spinning wheel, which recalls the work of 5. KAMMASSAKATA: We have KAMMASSAKATA blessings on us. Everything depends on our own in my opinion, is perpetually resurrected through when I began working on the series of paintings components found both within and external to Marcel Duchamp, and also the recurring figure of as our own; whatever deeds we do, be they good actions. Our karma cannot be given to anyone else, the ages so long as humans are unable to reject called Altarpieces, one of which appeared in an the paintings themselves. These are works of art the dwarf, this time in the guise of a court musician or evil, of those we will surely be the heirs. and no one can wash away our sins or purify our earthly desires and the passions of the dark side. exhibition in Singapore in 2013. This painting was that inform many other aspects of Western culture entertaining a nobleman, both of whom appear to In this altarpiece a place is represented—a souls. We ourselves are solely responsible for the The devil is like a shadow that personifies human- really my first attempt to make use of Christian connected with belief, faith and reverence. be pondering their futures. pier or a riverbank—of which I got information last good or bad karma we create through our actions. ity’s dark side and will never disappear. imagery to depict the ambiguities and contradic- As the focus of my interest in these paintings In all, the series Altarpieces is projected to year, during a trip to the ancient city of Ayudhaya. All begins and ends with the human mind. Mind has tions I felt. In this series of works I juxtapose a has gradually narrowed, I have had to go back and comprise twelve paintings, each related to key I went to the ancient Portuguese and Holland a central place in Buddhist theology, and in contrast (Natee Utarit, 2016) number of Christian and contemporary symbols reexamine the formal aspects and intellectual con- words and sentences I have selected. The individ- village near the river to study their architectures for with the Catholic concept of original sin, our original to question the existence of God in the modern tent of what had inspired me. I have reconsidered ual paintings will vary in size and format and should my painting and I found a church and cemetery in mind is pure and unsullied. It is only after we enter world, while the image of the dwarf continues to the meaning and context of traditional altarpieces be completed sometime near the end of 2015 or the center of the village, both facing the river. I the world, where temptations surround us, that My interest in European art, 2016 represent my confusion over questions of cultural and the sacred nature of ritual which had been the beginning of 2016. have used this place as a background in my paint- our passions are aroused and we are lured into and artistic identity. so closely linked to the origins of high art. I have ing, to convey the idea of the river and of traveling impurity. Reminders of death (morananusati) and an Influences of Western European art on Southeast Work on the Altarpieces series has raised a also had to give additional thought to the ways in Altarpiece 2 – The Private Expectation of God to a place where no one can refuse to enter. awareness of the true nature of our bodies (asupa: Asia had been at play since modern art curriculum number of interesting issues, from the manner of which Christianity has shaped Western ways of and the Common Reason of Investment I intend to be that viewer who looks at this reflection on impurity) point to an inescapable truth: was adopted in the region during the post-colonial presentation to the intrinsic meaning of the terms thinking. All of these reflections have entered into The painting speaks of the covetousness and ex- painting from the same angle as those who are that only we can solve the problems that afflict our period. “Western” and “Asian” within a particular con- my handling of the content of these new works pectation of mankind. standing near the river and look back to see peo- race. And all of my work can be interpreted through I graduated from Silpakorn University, the text. This is due to the long tradition of altarpiece as it became increasingly clear that what I aspired For me, the expectation of humans can be ple near death, meaning that the viewer is part of the lens of this essential truth. first art college in Thailand founded by a Flor- paintings and their connection to the relationship to communicate was this: What is sanctity in the described by what they do to their God. They those who have already traveled. ence-born sculptor. The body of knowledge at Sil- between painting and religious rituals, which dates modern world, a world so deeply influenced by sacrifice because they want God to bless them (Natee Utarit, May 2016) pakorn University is based entirely on a particular from the dawn of human civilization. Western ways of thinking which in the eyes of with more earthly returns in a similar way as an (Passages assembled from the artist’s personal Italian art academy, whose history and develop- An altarpiece is a Western art form which most Asians define the present and future of the investor does. journal, written between 2014 and 2016) ment was tied to local Italian characteristics. Even once played a tremendously important role in re- vast majority of us in the world? The first panel on the left shows God’s stor- I See a Devil This Morning, 2016 today, the local Italian song—Santa Lucia—is still ligion and culture. These images, which adorned The third painting in the series, entitled age while the second panel shows the emptiness sung as university anthem. The university itself the altars of Christian churches, took a number When Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then and hopelessness of an investor. I See a Devil This Morning is from my latest series and the art knowledge I was taught had constant- of different forms, from single-panel largens to the Gentleman? was completed in early 2014 and of paintings, which started in early 2016, and in- ly urged me to question why I had to draw in a two-panel diptychs, three-panel triptychs, and in a real sense, is the first work in the new series. Altarpiece 3 – Nescientia cludes portraits of dwarfs, a magician’s family, and certain way, or have a certain perspective about multiple-panel polyptychs, all of them elaborately The painting offers an interpretation of Westerners This triptych altarpiece was inspired by the posture other unusual characters. natural truth, or present and evaluate a piece of art decorated. The central panel usually depicted a ma- and Western ways of thinking through the depic- in an image of Buddha, which the Thai call Pang- The image of the Devil in this painting is in- according to a certain set of criteria. I had totally no jor event from the Bible or Christian hagiography, tion of a politically-motivated riot which occurred in Perd- Lok and which relates to Gautama Buddha’s spired by images of the being found in a number of idea about the cultural basis of the sort of expertise while the lateral panels showed related imagery. the fourteenth century. It is an attempt to link a dis- discovery. fifteenth-century and Renaissance paintings. The I had acquired. These paintings figured in special celebrations and tant historical event with similar incidents in a very Buddha wanted to disclose to people and to images represent strength and power that hang Hence, I began to take philosophy of west- observances within the Church. different, contemporary setting. The story of John his disciples the truth of the three worlds (heaven, on human desires. The heart in the painting is de- ern art seriously after graduation in 1992. Testing It seems to me that altarpieces, as paint- Ball, an Englishman who played a key role in the heart and hell). picted as an organ of the devil’s body, suggesting my hypotheses through experimenting art work, I ings, have the potential to engage the viewer in Peasants Revolt of 1381, was the inspiration and In the painting, Buddha is showing the truth a connection between the life and mind of man. also researched into the history and techniques of an interesting dialogue, especially within the con- organizing principle for the painting. The famous of humanity to a group of greedy (art) people, but In the Western world, the devil is believed European painting—the topic receiving very little text of contemporary art. They add a “temporal” words spoken by Ball—“When Adam delved and his revelation is received with indifference. to be an exterior being and is responsible for pro- attention from Southeast Asia’s artists, who were

244 | WRITINGS BY THE ARTIST 245 | WRITINGS BY THE ARTIST more interested in presenting national and ethnic A reflection on painting language of European Ridiculous, in my opinion, traditional European such a person. I have a chance to meet the dwarf ner. What was expressed through these paintings lifestyles and ways of thinking traceable to colonial identities at that time. art during fourteenth and seventeenth techniques still present themselves as an appro- quite often in my every day’s life. Once, I followed clearly shows the dwarfs’ unique identity and their influences in the nineteenth century. My interest in European art philosophy and centuries in my 2010–16 art work priate option. a dwarf man in Bangkok’s Chinatown with an in- social status at the time. The pride and fascination in this identity by the presentation of European art styles in my work In 2010, I embarked on the Illustration of the cri- tention to ask him to be my painting model. But In the past, a perception of human being’s Asia’s new middle class is no difference from an became more obvious around 1999. Prior to that, sis project, where I adopted traditional European European-ness and myth it was quite difficult to easily explain to him my physical abnormalities was closely tied with reli- image of the dwarf wearing a European costume my focus was on the theoretical question of how painting language for the first time. Here, the term I am not certain about the level in which the myth work and my purpose and to convince him to sit for gious beliefs and the world of devils and Satan. standing among weird regalia and awkward con- the image of Asian art could be differently perceived “language” is preferred over “style” because what of European-ness impacts the European. What I me. As a matter of fact, most of them firmly shut Physical disability of so many people was exploited text. I am not sure whether or not western people by curators around the world. In particular, I was I consider to be unique about traditional European am certain is, the myth of European-ness has a down any opportunity for me to explain or even to entertain everyone ranging from the royal court will have the same idea and interpret the image the trying to explore the possibilities to challenge the art is embedded in the painting structure rather deep impact on Southeast Asian artists like myself, to have a small talk. They usually rushed away to the circus. When I was a child, I often saw par- same way we believe and take pride in. stereotypical expectation on Asian arts for a presen- than the overall impression of the painting. far beyond the issues of lifestyle, way of thinking and would sneakily peer back when they felt that odies where characters funnily imitated physical After all, in the end what they see could be tation of political conflicts, Buddhism and exoticism. I believe that a painting can speak only one or wisdom. they were safe. For a dwarf woman, the situation manners of the disabled in foreign TV programs merely a funny parody of the dwarf working in a I began to reject Thai-ness in my art work. I sentence. The sentence may be long, containing Though European-ness for Asians is gener- was even worse. Usually, she would be in a panic as if these were normal. comedy trying to make people laugh. The image did so by situating my work in the history of Thailand a number of adjectives and phrases, or as short ally tied to the image of Europe in the eighteenth and express clearly that she absolutely wanted to A lot of dwarfs showed up in fairy tales and expressing the very same meaning is used once in the past 150 years, the period in which Southeast as a couple of words; however, painting is always and nineteenth centuries, each Asian country has have nothing to do with me. I almost gave up my mythology, most of whom were related to su- again to convey this message in a painting entitled Asia was the target of European colonialism. contained within just one sentence. What is beyond its local version of the myth of European-ness. In intention at the time to use the dwarf image in perstition and awfulness. A dwarf in folklore was When Adam Delves and Eve Spans Who Was Then I was interested in King Mongkut’s (King that one sentence is the linguistic outcome of the my country, Europe equals Britain and English way my painting. intertwined with magic, curse and viciousness. the Gentleman?. The painting depicts a situation Rama IV’s) strategy to defend the country from viewers’ connection between what they visualize of life. Despite the fact that Thailand successfully My wife called me one day while I was But today, while social perception has shifted in that reminds audience of influences from the co- colonial powers by means of creating a particular and their past experience—the interpretation. The escaped colonization, England was the country’s working in my studio. She told me that she had the sense that it’s no longer a norm to tie natural lonial era and cultural inequality clearly witnessed image of Thailand. The King dealt with both British physical expression of the painting, on the contrary, ideal for good life and desirable education. Just as met a dwarf man at a supermarket, someone she or scientific facts with mystical legends, and the in today’s society. and French pressures by exhibiting the existence of never goes beyond projecting an image of a single in the reign of Louis XIV, where Roman architecture thought I would be interested in. I had a light-bulb replacing concept of respect and dignity of the oth- local knowledge and wisdoms in all western disci- sentence. was cherished and symbolic to wealth and grace, moment to ask her to contact him as women usu- er as a fellow human being has helped improving (From the artist’s personal journal, entry dated April plines which are different yet equivalent in caliber. For this reason, I always feel that contem- European-style art is frequently seen integrated in- ally had their way of talking and creating a bond the dwarf’s social status, yet, these old thoughts 23, 2017) The King had assigned the task of mural paint- porary painting grammar, especially the “abstract to Asian houses, buildings, corridors, garage pillars, more easily than men. It worked. I secured an seem to persist. I could still feel, from those whom ing at a royal temple to a Buddhist monk—paint language,” is unable to depict content that is highly and guestroom furniture. appointment with him and eventually met him in I am acquainted with, their self-protection and a master In Khong, also known as “Krua In Khong.” complicated. One possible reason is that modern From this perspective, the adoption of Re- my studio. sense of them hiding something. For me, it’s like The uniqueness of master In Khong’s work was the art is in many ways reductionist. It values effective naissance and Baroque techniques in my art work His name was Pom. He was working in a they are saying that what the world still thinks of adoption of European story-telling style in depicting use of lines and colors and leaves out the unnec- can also be viewed as a form of parody of myth of print shop. He was shy and was not so confident them remains exactly the same, with an exception Buddhist philosophy. In his work, western rules of essary. In modern painting, good story-telling is ex- European-ness. in anything around him. Pom was the person who that nothing is clearly uttered as it was a hundred perspective, composition, illumination and color, pressed in the most possibly shortened sentence, Presenting European-ness to the European was most depicted in my dwarf paintings both as years ago. portrait and even depiction of western attires are or just a “phrase.” may not be interesting. Yet, European-ness in Asia a study in my portraits and in several other paint- adopted in traditional Thai painting for the first time. The more the painter’s content is complex, is not quite the same as me, being Thai, seeing ings with clear messages under the theme of We The Dwarf in my paintings That was the King’s strategy to counter the the more necessary his painting grammar will be- how a European cooks Thai food in Thailand for a Are Asia. The first time I drew the dwarf was in 2009. At western powers with a projection of “Thai civili- come. European Renaissance paintings were par- Thai. European-ness has more mythic implications After Pom, I had a chance to meet a few that time, it was not really right to call what I drew zation.” ticularly ingenious in this respect. They reflected than merely a form of things. It encompasses ide- more little people who were painted in my exper- “the dwarf.” Rather, it was more the dwarf doll. It The problem Master In Khong must have a range of effective composition and other tech- als, dreams, and internal contradictions that are imental painting project. wasn’t until 2013 when I really drew facial expres- encountered was, how could one possibly paint niques, such as the positioning of man and things never going to fade. I actually met a lot of dwarf men and wom- sions of these little people in various perspectives. something of which he had neither direct experi- in the painting, the use of symbols, and the paint- en I and the dwarfs as a concept in my thoughts I even experimented painting the dwarf images in ence nor extensive knowledge? The monk’s input ing’s interaction with the viewers’ eyes. These are (From the artist’s personal journal, entry dated Oc- share some similarities and distinctions. Most of the same style as Velázquez’. for his painting was only limited to postcard illustra- the common features of European art during the tober 27, 2016) the small people in my imagination about the dwarf I used these images to convey my serious tions, prints on packaging paper, and the gifts the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, are inspired by old masters paintings, the dwarfs content about them through a series of paintings royal palace had received from the western world. in contemporary art, such painting grammar is re- in circuses or TV sit-coms. entitled Optimism is Ridiculous. There, their at- Based on this limited range of input, a Thai mural garded as either superfluous or ineffective. The Dwarf in my experience, 2017 But every little person I met was not funny, tempts to seek acceptance and equality were painting with a western touch at an enormous size Religious content and reflection of contem- as most people would think they were. They have explored. was successfully created. porary life is usually complex and requires sym- As a matter of fact, an image of dwarf has been not a good sense of humor. They looked serious I connected the meaning and characters of My art project on Master In Khong and land- bolic assistance or interpretation. Insofar as de- lingering in my mind for a long time. There are so and hardly revealed anything. There was only one the dwarfs in my paintings with their context being scape in 2005 was essentially inspired by this very piction of a contemporary issue requires painting many inspirations of the dwarf in my memory. This tiny man who was more humorous than others the royal comedian whose job was to entertain process of westernization. Since then, I have inte- grammar that is capable of handling contradictions, includes, among a few, a painting of the dwarf by and who would act funnily just for me while we courtiers through their identity. grated European thinking into my art work. complexities and narrative expressions, I contend Velázquez and a dwarf sculpture by Juan Muñoz. were in the studio. But that’s because he was a An image of a proud Asian dwarf man in the My interest in the influence of traditional that traditional European painting language is still An image of dwarf is outstanding in the sense professional comedian. When he was not in his European-style dress seems to be out of place European painting language has led me to con- relevant today. that it contains so many peculiarities and mysticism. comedian mode, like his peers, he was quiet and whether through his appearance or through the centrate on two issues. The first issue is the ef- In fact, during 2010–16, my art work aspired You may think about the oddity of the dwarf’s phy- seemed to hide something he felt shameful about. context he was in. This however is not different fectiveness of symbolism in depicting complex and to reflect many qualities of traditional European sique or the subject may lead you to think of an The dwarfs in Velázquez’s paintings were from what’s usually seen and found along the ambiguous content. The second issue is the extent art, for example, Northern European solemnness, ancient folk tale, which reflects a traditional under- those in the Spanish Court, most of whom worked streets in various Asian countries where what’s to which European art has become a kind of myth French flamboyance, Italian beauty, and Spanish standing about the dwarf. as jesters or playmates of sons and daughters of thought to be inferior local identity is disguised by for post-colonial Asia. Having these two issues in spirituality. The degree of my fascination for these In my opinion, the dwarf is so interesting the Spanish royal family. I also came across sev- superior European cultural characteristics in every mind, I always turn to the painting language of Eu- Western qualities is no less than the degree of and full of grace. eral dwarf paintings by European artists in early day’s living. That’s why we spot the Doric column ropean art during the fourteenth and seventeenth my admiration for Eastern wisdoms. However, I tried to find a dwarf model for a sketch centuries ranging from Agnolo di Cosimo to other of classical Greek architecture inside Bangkok’s centuries when I work on projects in which illustra- in paintings of religious content, as in my recent drawing of my painting. But it seemed that no Spanish painters who usually depicted the image homes, find Louis XIV-style furniture in a living tion of complex concepts and symbols is required. work Altarpieces and some parts of Optimism is modeling company in Thailand had ever hired of these tiny men and women in a similar man- room of opulent middle-class families and notice

246 | WRITINGS BY THE ARTIST 247 | WRITINGS BY THE ARTIST APPENDIX Natee Utarit Selected Solo Exhibitions 2005 Asian Identity, Galeri Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, • Asian Art Now, Soka Contemporary Space, Center, The Center of Academic Resources, Natee Utarit (b. 1970, Bangkok, Thailand) • New Works, The Art Gallery of the Faculty of Malaysia Taiwan Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand studied at the College of Fine Art in 1987 2018 Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn • Thai Eye, Bangkok Art and Culture Center 2006 1993 and graduated in Graphic Arts at the Painting • Optimism is Ridiculous, National Art Gallery, University, Bangkok, Thailand (BACC), Bangkok, Thailand • Signed and Dated, Valentine Willie Fine Art, • Life Now, 3 Artists Exhibition, Dialogue Gallery, and Sculpture Faculty at Silpakorn University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • Ballad for Khrua Inkong, Chiang Mai University 2015 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Bangkok, Thailand both in Bangkok, in 1991. • Optimism is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces, Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand • Thai Eye, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK 2005 • Premio Internazionale Biella per l’Incisione The Private Museum, Singapore • The Last Description of the Old Romantic, • Art of ASEAN, Bank Negara Museum and • On Paintings, Bangkok University Art Gallery 1993, Biella, Italy 2017 Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Rangsit), Bangkok, Thailand 1992 • Optimism is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces, 2003 • I am Ten, Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, • Portrait, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, • Small Work, An Art Exhibition by 56 Thai Artists, Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia • Still Pictures, Plum Blossoms Gallery, Singapore Malaysia Malaysia Silom Art Space, Bangkok, Thailand • Optimism is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces, Ayala • Recent Paintings, Valentine Willie Fine Art, • Time of Others, Museum of Contemporary Art 2003 • The Exhibition of Prints, Dialogue Gallery, Museum, Manila, Philippines Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tokyo, Japan • Overseas, The Gallery of Art and Design, Bangkok, Thailand • It Would Be Silly to Be Jealous of a Flower, • Recent Paintings, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, 2014 Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand • Art Thesis Exhibition by the Graduating Class Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Thailand • Medium at Large, Singapore Art Museum, • Next Move, Earl Lu Gallery, Lasalle-Sia College of the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic 2016 2002 Singapore of the Art, Singapore Arts, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand • Samlee & Co., The Absolutely Fabulous Show, • Silent Laughing of Monster, Numthong Gallery, 2013 2002 • The Exhibition of Prints, Foyer Gallery, Canberra Art Stage Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia Bangkok, Thailand • Asian Art Biennale 2013: Everyday Life, • Present Perfect, The Bhirasri Institute of School of Art, Canberra, Australia • Optimism is Ridiculous, Megumi Ogita Gallery, • Painting with Pure Reason, Numthong Gallery, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Modern Art, Bangkok, Thailand • The Contemporary Graphic Arts by New Artists, Tokyo, Japan Bangkok, Thailand Taiwan • Fusion Vision, Thai Australian Artistic The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2013 • Silent Laughing of Monster/Large Scale, The 2012 Connection, The Gallery of Art and Design, 1991 • Optimism is Ridiculous, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Gallery of Art and Design, Silpakorn University, • THAI TREND from Localism to Internationalism, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand • The 19th International Biennial of Graphic Art South Korea Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Bangkok, • Developing Time, Tadu Gallery, Bangkok, 1991, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia • Optimism is Ridiculous, Richard Koh Fine Art, 2001 Thailand Thailand • The Contemporary Art Competition 1991, Singapore • Equivalence Second Dialectic, Plum Blossoms • Beacons of Archipelago, Arario Gallery, 2001 The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand • Optimism is Ridiculous, Richard Koh Fine Art, Gallery, Singapore Cheonan, South Korea • Painted, Valentine Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, • Small Work, Group Show by 3 Artists, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • Views and Transference, Numthong Gallery, • Clouds, Power of Asian Contemporary Art, Malaysia The Seven Seas Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand • Illustration of the Crisis, Bangkok University Bangkok, Thailand Soka Art Center, 798, Beijing, China • ARS 01, Museum of Contemporary Art, • Spiritual Sense, 2 Artists Exhibition of Prints, Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2000 • Future Pass – From Asia to the World, Helsinki, Finland British Council Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2012 • Pictorial Statement, Bangkok University Art Today Art Museum, Beijing, China • Thai Contemporary Exhibition, Valentine • The Small Prints by 10 Artists, River City • Illustration of the Crisis, ARNDT Berlin, Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand • Future Pass – From Asia to the World, Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Germany 1999 National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, • Root, Open Art Space, Bangkok, Thailand • The 3rd Toshiba Art Competition, Silpakorn 2011 • Homage to Landscape Painting, Numthong Taiwan 2000 University Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand • Bourgeois Dilemma, Finale Art File, Philippines Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2011 • Snapshot, Plum Blossoms Gallery, Singapore • The 8th Exhibition of Contemporary Art by • Illustration of The Crisis, Art Season Gallery, • Internal Landscape, Art Forum, Singapore • Future Pass – From Asia to the World, 1999 Young Artists, Silpakorn University Art Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland • Appearance and Reality, Numthong Gallery, Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands • The Third Asia - Pacific Triennial of Bangkok, Thailand 2010 Bangkok, Thailand • Future Pass – From Asia to the World Collateral Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, • The 5th International Biennial Print Exhibition • After Painting, Natee Utarit’s survey exhibition, 1998 Event of the 54th International Art Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia 1991, ROC Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan works from 1992–2008, Singapore Art Museum, • Internal Landscape, Numthong Gallery, La Biennale di Venezia, Palazzo Mangilli- • Alter Ego, The 1st Thai - EU Art Project, 1985–1990 Singapore Bangkok, Thailand Valmarana, Venice, Italy The Art Gallery of The Faculty of Painting, • The Contemporary Art Competition 1990, 2009 1997 • Asia: Looking South, ARNDT, Berlin, Germany Sculpture and Graphic Arts, Silpakorn University, The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand • Tales of yesterday, today and tomorrow, • Mother Figure, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, • Wonderland, G23 Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok, Thailand • The 3rd, 5th Exhibition of Contemporary Art Richard Koh Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Thailand Thailand 1998 by PTT, Silpakorn University Art Gallery, Bangkok, 2008 1995 • Negotiating Home, History and Nation: Two • Portrait, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Thailand • Dreams, Hope and Perfection, Valentine • Drawing and Watercolors, British Council decades of Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia • The Art Exhibition of Vietnamese - Thai Artist, • The 3rd, 7th Exhibition of Contemporary Art by Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 1991 - 2011, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Fine Art Museum of Ho Chi Minh City Hanoi Fine Young Artists, Silpakorn University Art Gallery, • Transparency Happiness, Soka Art Center, 1994 2008 Art University, Hanoi, Vietnam Bangkok, Thailand Beijing, China • Anthropology, The Bangkok Playhouse, • Mapping Asia, The Special Project of CIGE • Book, Kurusapa Building, Bangkok Art Project • The 1st, 2nd Toshiba Art Competition, Silpakorn 2007 Bangkok, Thailand 2008, Beijing, China 1998, Public Art in Community lives across the University Art Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand • The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and • This is not a Fairy-tale, Contemporary Thai Art Rattanakosin Island, Bangkok, Thailand • The Male Formy Grafiki, Polska-Lodz’89, Poland Perfection, The Art Center, Center of Academic Exhibition, Soka Art Centre, Taipei, Taiwan • The 3rd International Mini Print Triennial 1998, • The 2nd, 3rd Youth Art Exhibition of Thailand, Resources, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Selected Group Exhibitions • Traces of Siamese Smile/Art, Faith, Politics Lahti, Poland Thailand Thailand and Love, Bangkok Art and Culture Center, 1997 • The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and 2017 Bangkok, Thailand • Conversing Contemporary, Numthong Gallery, Perfection, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand • The New Frontier of Painting, Fondazione 2007 Bangkok, Thailand Public Collections 2006 Stelline, Milan, Italy • Diversity in Print, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, 1996 • The Fragment and the Sublime, Valentine • Hermann Nitsch & Natee Utarit: Existence Singapore • Hidden Agenda, Project 304, Bangkok, • Burger Collection, Hong Kong and Switzerland Willie Fine Art, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia & Senses, Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill, • Thai Contemporary: Charm and Chasm, Tang Thailand • Canvas Foundation, Amsterdam, • Kyotek Sae-Wu’s 12 photographs during Austria Gallery, Beijing, China 1995 the Netherlands 1969-1973, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, 2016 • Southeast Asian Contemporary Art, Soka Art • Man and the Forest, A Fundraising Exhibition • Fine Art Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Thailand • SEMANGAT X: Visual Expressions of Southeast Centre, Beijing, China Benefit The Northern Development, The Art • Lasalle - SIA College of the Arts, Singapore

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• Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, • Dreams, Hope and Perfection, Kuala Lumpur: Art critic, curator and essayist Demetrio Paparoni He has curated large exhibitions in public Brisbane, Australia Valentine Willie Fine Art, 2008. was born in Siracusa, Italy, and currently lives in spaces for Anish Kapoor (Milan, 2011), Tony Ourser • Singapore Art Museum, Singapore • Transparency Happiness, Beijing: Soka Milan. In 1983 he founded the contemporary art (Milan, 2011) and Wang Guangyi (La Coruña, Spain, • Tanachira Collection, Thailand Contemporary Space, 2008. journal Tema Celeste and the publishing house of the 2015). Paparoni has created multiple TV documenta- • The Metropolitan Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand • The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and same name, which he managed until the year 2000. ries for the RAI Educational channel. He has writ- • The Metropolitan Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand Perfection: Natee Utarit, Bangkok: Chulalongkorn In 1981 he received a temporary faculty appointment ten and edited numerous books and monographs, • Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand University, 2007. to teach Contemporary Art at the University of Ap- including those on Timothy Greenfield-Sanders • Bangkok University, Bangkok, Thailand • Kyotek Sae-Wu’s 12 Photographs during 1969- plied Arts in Vienna. From 1996 to 1998 he taught (2001), Brian Eno & Mimmo Paladino (2001), Chuck • British Council, Bangkok, Thailand 1973, Bangkok: Numthong Gallery, 2006. History of Contemporary Art in the Department of Close (2002), Jonathan Lasker (2002), Bernardí Roig • Amorepacific Museum of Art, Osan, • The Last Description of the Old Romantic: Architecture at the University of Catania. He taught (2009), Wang Guangyi (2013), Morten Viskum South Korea Paintings by Natee Utarit, Bangkok: Numthong History of Modern Art for the same department be- (2016), Ljubodrag Andric (2016), Vibeke Slyngstad • MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum Gallery, 2005. tween 2003 and 2008. (2017), Ronald Ventura (2017). • Recent Paintings, Bangkok: Numthong Gallery For the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993, Paparoni and Valentine Willie Fine Art, 2003. curated Abstracta in the Italian pavilion. That same Books • Reason and Monsters Project, Bangkok: year he curated the exhibition Italia/America, L’as- Numthong Gallery and The Gallery of Art and trazione ridefinita at the National Gallery of Modern • Illustration of the Crisis, Kuala Lumpur: Design Silpakorn University, 2002. Art in San Marino. In 1996 he collaborated with the Richard Koh Fine Art, 2013. Texts by Katerina • Internal Landscape / Notebook, Bangkok: Fundación Reina Sofía de Madrid for the exhibit Valdivia Bruch, Kathleen Suraya Warden, Thanes Numthong Gallery, 1999. Nuevas Abstracciones at the Palacio de Velázquez Wongyannava, Patrick D. Flores and Brian Curtin. • Homage to Landscape Painting, Bangkok: in Madrid and at the Galería de Arte Moderno in • Are You Afraid of Contemporary Art? (Natee Numthong Gallery, 1999. Demetrio Paparoni Barcelona. Among the many exhibits which he has Utarit), Singapore: Singapore Art Museum, 2012. • Internal Landscape, Bangkok: Numthong Photo Timothy Greenfield-Sanders curated are Eretica (Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Pal- Texts by Geraldine Cheang. Gallery, 1998. ermo, 2006), Mentalgrafie/Viaggio nell’arte contem- • Let’s Discover Contemporary Art! with Natee poranea italiana (Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Utarit, Singapore: Singapore Art Museum, 2011. Texts by Geraldine Cheang. Other Books 2007), España 1957–2007 (Palazzo Riso, Palermo, • Natee Utarit: After Painting, Singapore: 2008), Surreal versus Surrealism (IVAM, Valencia, Singapore Art Museum, 2010. Texts by Boon Hui • Demetrio Paparoni, The Devil, Milan: 24 ORE 2011) and The New Frontier of the Painting (Fon- Tan, Michelle Ho and Iola Lenzi; interview with Cultura, 2017. dazione Stelline, Milan, 2017). Natee Utarit by Boon Hui Tan. • David Teh, Thai Art: Currencies of the • Survey 1991-2006, Bangkok: Numthong Gallery, Contemporary, Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2017. 2009. • Serenella Ciclitira, Thailand Eye: Contemporary • The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and Thailand Art, Milan: Skira, 2016. Perfection. Bangkok: Numthong Gallery, 2007. • Art of ASEAN: Our Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur: Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery, 2015. Catalogues • Helu-Trans Collectors Series: Southeast Asia / Contemporary, Singapore: Helu-Trans, 2014 • It Would be Silly to be Jealous of a Flower, (Texts by Adeline Ooi). Kuala Lumpur: Richard Koh Fine Art, 2017. • Primo Marella, Deep S.E.A.: Contemporary Art • Richard Koh (edited by), Natee Utarit, Optimism from South East Asia, Bologna: Damiani, 2013. is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces, Kuala Lumpur: • Tomorrow, Today: Contemporary Art from the Richard Koh Fine Art, 2017. Texts by Boon Hui Tan. Singapore Art Museum (2009-2011), Singapore: • Samlee & Co., The Absolutely Fabulous Show, Singapore Art Museum, 2012. Kuala Lumpur: Richard Koh Fine Art, 2016. • Negotiating Home, History and Nation: Two • Optimism is Ridiculous, Kuala Lumpur: Richard Decades of Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia Koh Fine Art, 2013. 1991-2011, Singapore: Singapore Art Museum, • Optimism is Ridiculous, Seoul: Gallery Hyundai, 2011. Texts by Boon Hui Tan and Iola Lenzi. 2013. Texts by Rachel Jenagaratnam and Natee • Marjorie Chu, Understanding Contemporary Utarit. Southeast Asian Art, Singapore: Art Forum, 2003. • Illustration of the Crisis: Natee Utarit, Zurich: Art Seasons, 2011. Texts by Kathleen Suraya Warden and Natee Utarit. • Bourgeois Dilemma, Philippines: Finale Art File, 2011. Texts by Patrick D. Flores and Natee Utarit. • Illustration of the Crisis, Berlin: ARNDT, 2010. Texts by Katerina Valdivia Bruch. • Tales of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Kuala Lumpur: Richard Koh Fine Art, 2009. Texts by Calvin Tan.

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