Tang Contemporary Art Bangkok is proud to announce the opening of “Untitled Poems of Théodore Rousseau,” a solo exhibition for celebrated contemporary artist Natee Utarit, with an opening on October 4 (6:00 – 8:00 pm) and a special party on October 17 (9:00 am – 22:00 pm).
This exhibition features a series that the artist created in the Fontainebleau forest in France, where he lived from spring to autumn 2017. He spent several months making art and seeking the wonder of the imagery and subjects of landscape painting with a reference to Théodore Rousseau, the leader of the Barbizon school.
Landscape subject was controversial during the time of “Le Salon” in Paris and the “peinture en plein air” was considered less valuable than portrait and historic subjects. Artists part of the Barbizon school were pioneer representatives of a new revolutionary era in artistic contemporary language. Sadly, as always happened during big artistic revolutions, their genius would have been recognized and understood only many years later.
Interesting is how landscape subject has intrigued Natee Utarit since the 90s. He constantly developed landscapes in many stages of his artistic career, it`s a subject he goes back to in the between of the creation of different series. Clearly during the years Natee Utarit landscapes were interested by an evolution of technique. They went through a phase of abstraction into a more narrative style. His style and technique persistently expand and remold his way of thinking about landscape painting.
This latest series is characterized by the choice of synthesizing an element of oaks trunks. In this attempt aesthetic choice and conceptual message interlace perfectly, returning to the viewer the precise dimension and atmosphere of the Fontainebleau forest, and subtly stating his practice and his contribution at the same level of those pivotal unique geniuses, capable to move steps forward in Art process. In confronting nature and the self, Natee Utarit focuses on the relationship between concept and subject, as well as the relationship between a conceptual perspective on landscape painting and visions of the world or space. “Every person has a different perception of reality and completeness. I experienced the landscape as I worked; it was a particularly fresh and solid experience.”
Natee Utarit is a noted artist active in the international contemporary art world, with a deep yet wide-ranging artistic practice. His work has been collected by many important art institutions and foundations around the world.
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Natee Utarit
Natee Utarit (b. 1970, Bangkok) studied at the College of Fine Art in 1987 and graduated in Graphic Arts at the Painting and Sculpture Faculty at Silpakorn University, both in Bangkok, Thailand in 1991. Solo exhibitions include Optimism Is Ridiculous: The Altarpieces, Ayala Museum, Manila, Philippines (2017), Illustration of the Crisis, Bangkok University Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand (2013), After Painting, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2010) and The Amusement of Dreams, Hope and Perfection, Art Center of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand (2007).
Recent group exhibitions include Thai Eye, BACC, Bangkok, Thailand and Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (2016/2015), Art of ASEAN, Bank Negara Museum and Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2015), Time of Others, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (2015) and Asian Art Biennale 2013: Everyday Life, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan (2013).
His work is part of many renowned collections, such the Bangkok University, Bangkok, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, British Council, Bangkok, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Thailand, Lasalle-SIA Collecge of the Arts, Singapore,Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, Fine Art Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia, Burger Collection, Hong Kong and Switzerland as well as private collections in Europe and Asia. Utarit’s multifaceted practice focuses on the exploration of the medium of painting connecting it with photography and classical Western art. Light and perspective are some of the elements the artist chose to work with, focusing on painting as a means to explore image making. His complex pictures, juggle wideranging metaphors usually in the format of the traditional still life, allude to Thailand’s current social and political landscapes.
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