Thai Art Exhibition

FREEDOM & JUSTICE?
19 February - 12 March
by Jittagarn Kaewtinkoy (Thailand)

You are kindly invited for the opening of the exhibition on Saturday 19th Feb 2011 at 17:00 (5 pm)
at Thavibu Gallery

n the forthcoming exhibition, Jittagarn Kaewtinkoy has produced a series of portraits and paintings of well known politicians and of iconic personalities with the intent to explore their sense of commitment towards freedom and justice. It turns out that they often fall into two categories – good and bad. As a person committed to freedom, justice and transparency himself, the artist questions his subjects' intentions and aspirations and whether they are sincere or exploit their positions as leaders and role models.

Jittagarn Kaewtinkoy is 32 years old and is known for his ironic paintings of people in power. He graduated from Rajamonkol University in 2001 and has participated in several exhibitions in Thailand and also in the USA (2010).


Introduction by Steven Pettifor:
Unsurprisingly, Thailand’s artists tend to become more politicised in the wake of dramatic social upheavals and intermittent military interventions. During the student led demonstrations and subsequent crackdowns of 1973 and 1976, artists Pratuang Emjaroen and Prasong Luemuang led the dissenting charge, while after the bloody coup of 1992 it was Vasan Sitthiket along with Chumpon Apisuk and the Ukabat (fireball) performance artists who were quick to voice their hostility to the military takeover.

Thailand’s most recent military putsch of 2006 once again roused artists to visualise interpretations upon the consequential dilemmas facing Thai society. Yet aside from the firebrand Vasan and critical photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom, there have been few overtly political artists to commentate on the entrenched cronyism and corruption that have become the mainstay of Thai politics.

To the neutral observer, Thailand has never appeared a more divided country. This growing disharmony has begun registering and permeating the art of emerging artists, including 32-year-old painter Jittagarn Kaewtinkoy.


THAVIBU GALLERY
The Silom Galleria Building,
Suite 308, 919/1 Silom Rd.
Bangkok 10500
Tel +66 (0) 266 5454
For direction kindly see the map