Tanawat Suriyathongtam

For the layman, Tanawat Suriyatongtam was just another art student of Slipakorn University, but even in his very early years he was always fertile in his art work, doing an exhibition after exhibition, working constantly on his collages, his impression, mixing techniques and materials. Inspired, Tanawat never left or forgot his own style, mix of social satire, pronounced humor and introspection of spectacular work but also accessible.

For Tanawat, modern art has its own good and bad sides. In the past, for him it was easy to access in art because had an image that was easy to get. Modern art, the one he creates nowadays has a goal to make a spectator confused while watching, but also because it’s issued of diversity and characters is also a mirror showing emotions an thoughts of an artist, and it can be good and bad by definition.

Tanawat’s art, because he’s thinking through his troubled mind and sometimes negative, is an art he likes to describe “negative” differently of feeling it’s given to him. Negative art of Tanawat is not there to represent beauty or to be liked, but to make spectator think and react. Tanawat is an artist who appreciates inherently value of sarcasm and ridiculousness. Humor in his work allows to soften something that others can see as social satire . Using himself as a model, whether he is old, young, woman or man, changing face corresponding to the situation, he can be politician, public agent beggar. Social caricature there looks like self-mockery; Tanawat is using himself as a “sacrificial kneeling” so social critique is seeing his face and not those who are being mocked.

Asking himself what is the moral message sent by art, he rephrase his question and asks what is the moral message sent by art that is considered as “pretty” and “classic”. Message is not first thing art needs to send even when said art calls itself political or satirical.