NATEE UTARIT (Thai, B. 1970)

Widely acknowledged and respected as one of the most visually striking and compelling contemporary Southeast Asian artists in recent years, Natee was a graduate from the Silpakorn University in Bangkok, where he took an equal interest in classical art of the renaissance as well as theories of post-modernism.
The pictorial language of his paintings creates not only references Western art history, but also makes veiled references and commentary on Thai contemporary society, exploring ideas of identity, truth, beauty and culture.
In this painting, the artist reflexively interrupts the visual plane of the coloured landscape with a framed, painted black and white one, questioning and subverting the western form of realist landscape painting. His work has always critically examined the medium of painting in Southeast Asian art, and has been regarded as highly artistically and conceptually developed, presenting an exceptional balance of painterly technique, distinctive style, and originality.