Natee Utarit

Born in 1970 in Bangkok, Thailand, where he completed his studies and presently works, Utarit does not belong to the vast group of artists who chose to move to a major Western capital and obtain dual citizenship, and whose work is attributable to both their country of origin and their adoptive country. Despite the numerous references made to language, genres and iconographic themes found in European art, his use of discordant references allows him to fuse the analysis of pictorial language with mythical-religious, political and folk narratives, all of which are related to the present day through narrative expedients and philosophical conceptions that create a dyscrasy between language and subject.
This monograph offers a survey of Natee Utarit’s work, with particular attention to the Optimism Is Ridiculous cycle and to the entire series of The Altarpieces which make Natee Utarit one of the key exponents of Southeast Asian art.
Natee Utarit (b. 1970, Bangkok, Thailand) studied at the College of Fine Arts in 1987 and graduated in Graphic Arts at the Painting and Sculpture Faculty at Silpakorn University, both in Bangkok, in 1991.
Art critic, curator and essayist Demetrio Paparoni has written introductions for catalogues on artists including Li Songsong, David Salle, Vik Muniz, Peter Halley, Sean Scully, Jim Dine, Zhang Huan, Wang Guangyi and Ding Yi. He has written and edited numerous books and monographs, including those on Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (2001), Brian Eno & Mimmo Paladino (2001), Chuck Close (2002), Jonathan Lasker (2002) and Wang Guangyi (2013).