Exhibitions

‘THE L/ROYAL MONUMENT’ by Wittawat Tongkeaw – SAC Gallery

Thai

SAC Gallery

Jun 22 - Oct 31, 2021

^{The Unforgiven Blues}^{, 2021, Oil on canvas173 × 173 cm}^{All images courtesy of SAC Gallery}

Wittawat Tongkeaw is among the artists who have steadfastly stood for democratic ideals and fought for social change. In the past years, his artworks proved effective in their criticism of an unsettling socio - political situation and the crises befalling the country today. His realistic paintings - which make up part of this exhibition - employ a visual vocabulary closely entwined with the surrounding context, narrating an uneasy, constricted setting using layers of paint that serve to concealand reveal.

Intersection of Wills, 2021, Oil on canvas, 112 × 99 cm
Tempest, 2021, Oil on canvas, 112 × 99 cm

The L/Royal Monument showcases the traditional technique and language of realistic painting, one that retains its potency through camouflaged hints of social criticism. These artworks convey the artist’s outlook on Thailand’s political crossroads; his malaise when faced with the narrow - prevailing - worldviews and values; the violence exercised on unarmed citizens by a power both visible and which we have been coerced into treating as invisible; the stifled freedoms of expression and opinion; the paralysis that has engulfed Thai society, numbing it to all that is abnormal.

The Country of the Blind, 2021, Oil on canvas, 112 × 99 cm
Dawn, 2021, Oil on canvas, 112 x 99 cm

Apocalypse, 2021, Oil on canvas, 112 × 99 cm
The Land of Withdrawal, 2021, Oil on canvas, 112 × 99 cm

These works manifest a sublimation of meaning; their interpretation functioning through a violent meeting with our own sensations - especially when their meaning is split apart and connects with our individual experiences. The paintings and installations in this exhibition are not merely hiding places for facts or political views, but operate as sardonic renditions of the current political climate through the overlaying of meanings that have been suppressed. Political undertones become revealed through the unfolding of the surface meaning that is itself imbued with a sense of quiet and stillness, hovering between the aesthetic and the poetic.