RECKLESS
A solo exhibition by Tawan Wattuya
Curator: Myrtille Tibayrenc
Toot Yung Art Center Mae Rim
30 June22 September 2018
Exhibition and grand opening of the Toot Art Center:
June 30 2018 from 5pm
(Press can book interview slots between 2pm and 5pm – with the artist, the curator and owner of the Toot Yung Art Center)
Tawan Wattuya’s acute perceptiveness of global contemporary societies, infuse 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 loosing track of its ethics, morality and aspiration.
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 (b.1974) is best known for his distinctive approach to water color 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 terra cotta 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 Thailand’s most unique and engaged painters. His works have been exhibited extensively in Bangkok, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, New York Etc.
TOOT YUNG ART CENTER
The Toot Yung Art Center supports contemporary artist (painters, sculptors, craftsmen, photographers, designers, musician, film makers) 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 it’s 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, designer of the space, is an astute art collector and patron of the art center since 2018.
74/3 Moo 4, Ki Lek, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, 50180, Thailand
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