Mit Jai Inn: The King and I

One of the forerunners on the Thai contemporary art scene, Mit Jai Inn was born in 1960, and grew up in Thailand during the Cold War period. In addition to his own participation in cultural politics, the artist has shaped his practice around history, politics, and public issues. With abstract art lying at its core, the form and presentation of his work defies convention. His latest body of work made in 2020 echoes recent political protests in Thailand. As the ongoing student movement intensifies, Mit not only participates in the protests himself, but also instills a clear political statement in his work and exhibition.

The King and I, the title of Mit’s latest solo exhibition at TKG+, reverberates with a dark sense of humor that evokes the famous American drama with the same title, an adaptation of Margaret Landon’s 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam, which was first adapted into a musical, later as an eponymous film. Both the book and the film have been banned in Thailand for years. The exhibition title instantiates the artist’s earnest call for royal reform. Thailand’s constitution stipulates that the Thai royal family should stay above politics and remain politically neutral. King Rama X, or Maha Vajiralongkorn, who ascended to the throne in 2016, consolidated the power of the royal family and the military through constitutional amendments several times, during the term of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who rose to power after the 2014 coup. King Rama X even promulgated a new law that gives the King direct control of tens of billions of assets of the royal family, not to mention the absurdly extravagant lifestyle that has frequently captured the attention of international media.

For Mit’s solo exhibition The King and I, the metallic tone is inspired by mummification in ancient royal families of different countries. The artist overlays his sculptures and paintings with gold and silver metallic paint, as if embalming each work like a human body. He made a substantial amount of sculptures in 2020. On an elemental level, the artist’s body transforms through historical and conceptual analysis into a sculpture, upon which a coat of paint over a piece of canvas mimics the skin. In the “Neuron” series, metal as the primary medium of the sculptural works remains malleable, allowing each work to stand on its own as a living organism, coming alive when suspended, depleted and drained when left on the ground. Art making, for Mit, is a sublimation of bodily perception, propelled by emotions, a process where each step must be completed. Just as in the “Psychedelic” series, the scraped lines, the textured paint, indescribable details coalescing into a spirituality. The series is characterized by especially bright, artificial, and unnatural tones that invoke a dreamy, heavenly atmosphere, as well as the hippie culture of the 1970s and New Age of the 1990s. Much like the impressionist’s visual reaction to classicism, this series transports the viewer to an impossible utopia on an escapade from reality and capitalism. Constantly walking the line between painting and sculpture, Mit creates sculpturesque paintings with mixed media, and painterly sculptures interwoven with paint-splattered canvas. The metallic and psychedelic tones encapsulate the artist’s caustic tribute to the Thai royal family, while his profound concerns for Thailand’s future mingle with his work.