Tawan Wattuya’s acute perceptiveness of global contemporary societies infuses his work with a latent brutality exquisitely balanced with his masterful watercolor technique on soft bamboo paper. Carefully selected paintings on paper produced over the past 5 years have been put together to display the artist’s vision of a world losing track of its ethics, morality, and aspirations.
Women are presented as being sold in a meat market, cars are wrecked, we see menu-like paintings of guns and bombs, underlined with dark humor to express the artist’s views of a decaying society; The composition of floating objects, animals and people placed in rows, evoke a sense of primitive social order; It points out an obligation to adapt to certain criteria, dictated by oppressive governments and a globalized social order.
Tawan Wattuya is best known for his distinctive approach to watercolor and thought-provoking subjects.
His choice of medium is a clear attempt to convey the speed and dynamism he perceives in contemporary Thai society. He consciously chooses to view his homeland from a distance, studying the social and political situation from afar in order to explore with depth and understand both his hometown and the different places he encounters. Whether portraying the glittering terracotta warriors of China or making sketches of the old fishermen he met in Okinawa, it is clear that Wattuya’s paintings are always poetic, personal, but nevertheless provocative in terms of his critical engagement with current issues. He is considered today one of Thailands’ most unique and engaged painters. His works have been exhibited extensively in Bangkok, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, New York Etc.
Opening reception on Saturday, June 30th at 5 pm.
Duration of the exhibition: 30th June – 22nd September 2018.
The Toot Yung Art Center supports contemporary artists (painters, sculptors, craftsmen, photographers, designers, musicians, filmmakers who put traditional craft and authenticity at the heart of their practice. Toot Yung Art Center’s ambition is to bring the best of Thailand to the world and the best of the world to Thailand. More specifically to its new home in Mae Rim, Chiang Mai.
French artist and curator, based in Thailand since 2006, Myrtille Tibayrenc is the founder and director of the Toot Yung Art Center. Thai national Udom Dansakchai, the designer of the space, is an astute art collector and patron of the Art Center since 2018.
Toot Yung Gallery
74/3 Moo 4, Ki Lek, Mae Rim,
Chiang Mai, 50180, Thailand
M: +66 (0) 849145499
Email: curator@tootyunggallery.com
