Maitree Siriboon,  artist performing during opening night, Image Courtesy of the Artist

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Dear Readers: Things have been pretty grim recently in these early days of 2010. At least we are trying in our own small way to reassure as many as we can that everything is going to be alright. Perhaps this is the wrong time to talk about decadence but it may just give us something else to think about for a bit. This game of art helps in some small escapist way to entertain and inspire when things go tits up so here you go.

Last month when I was in Bangkok I went to the opening of Thai artist Maitree Siriboon’s exhibition Isarn Boy Soi 4 at Whitespace Gallery . Once again inserting himself into the subject of the work (in collaboration with photographer Tim Brightmore) Maitree creates an intoxicating total installation or better yet a self reflective temple/bordello/nightclub to pause on issues of culture and gender identity.

Installation view from opening night, Image Courtesy of the Artist

Isarn Boy Soi 4:  No 03, 2009, Photograph, 120 x90cm, Image Courtesy of the Artist

The opening itself was a performative spectacle with bouncers managing the trendy crowd at the door to the small first floor gallery in Siam Square. Once inside viewers were greeted with a curtained off holding area strewn with rose petals on the floor and dimly lit neon lighting. After taking off my shoes and given the all clear by yet another minder I pushed back the heavy velvet curtain to enter a small labyrinth of yet more velvet red curtained corridors, and now, warm atmospheric mood lighting. Classical music was blaring and around every corner were photographs, or light boxes or videos of Maitree as an Asian Adonis like angel posing in classical Western art history compositions (the pieta, the scholarly Renaissance group shot) with older Western male angels or in solitary isolation, a beautiful creature lost and searching for enlightenment regarding his place in the world. At the final turn when my feet were truly coated in mashed red rose petals (whose remains I would trail through the streets of Bangkok later that night), Maitree himself, in all his glittering, golden glory greeted the audience. As if a new disco fabulous god of excess, or ill fated boy prince adorned with jewellery, sunglasses, wings and a loin cloth, the artist was at once nothing more than a manipulated symbol/object of power and bestower of omnipotence and personal whimsy. Slowly raising his arms and hands, appearing oblivious to his worshippers, spectators, and objectifiers Maitree blesses and beseeches his audience to gaze, marvel and question his existence.

Installation view from opening night, Image Courtesy of the Artist

Isarn Boy Soi 4: No 02, 2009, Photograph, 120 x 90cm, 2009, Image Courtesy of the Artist

In a way kitsch and decadent does not even come close to describing this experience. The installation was tight, logistically well executed and made smart use of an otherwise compact space. As an experience, waiting in line outside, having to leave all your drinks at the door, having to wait again once inside and then entering another world/womb/ nest that was thoughtfully designed with lighting and a mixture of sound and medium was a sublime performance of art. This process of engagement is accessible to most as it stimulates many of our senses, touch (rose petals on feet), hearing (classical music), smell (there was some pungent aroma from said rose petals or incense or something), and of course sight (Men! Red! Gold! Angels!). And let’s be honest we all love red rooms….

Installation view from opening night, Image Courtesy of the Artist

The work itself with its very clear concerns about identity in flux, homosexuality and homo-eroticism within the Thai context as well as the worship/adulation of the male body has its highs and lows. The light box piece and video of wings and their shadows moving across a wall and the photographs of the artist alone were striking and complex. When other Western protagonists of varying physical states were inserted the frictions and concerns seemed too staged and verged on the hollow. But maybe that was the point. Overly earnest this new series also lacked the humour of previous work such as Isarn Boy Dream which had that necessary component of irony and conflict. But when the space was at its capacity, when audiences bump past each other and the excitement of the launch is at its height, Isarn Boy Soi 4 works well. After the opening when the artist and the crowds are absent the show will of course have different impacts and meaning.

I left that night feeling satisfied that I grasped and experienced something that has since compelled me to continue thinking but more about the entire show (Maitree is also the curator of Whitespace Gallery) then the actual works themselves. So I will leave you to read the artist statement below and come up with your own insights…….

Installation view from opening night, Image by EM

Isarn Boy Soi 4 is series of photographs that continues from a previous body of work developed in 2007-2008, titled Isarn Boy Dream. In Isarn Boy Dream, I invited a number of my friends, who are foreigners living in Bangkok, to visit my home town, located in Isarn, a northeastern province of Thailand. I am always interested in the issues surrounding cultural identity and exploring how our cultural background informs and shapes the way we think. The ‘Isarn boy’ is how I describe myself. It is taken from the name of the province where I grew up. People from Isarn share many cultural similarities with the Laotian, since it is located at the border of Laos. While questions of my self-identity is based on Isarn culture, I also recognise the part of me that is fluid and open to adaptation. Coming to Bangkok is analogous to opening myself to global influences. These are represented in images of myself dying my hair blonde, symbolising the process of adaptation I undergo. In Isarn Boy Soi 4 I am taking my exploration of self identity to another level. Since moving to Bangkok in 1999, Silom’s Soi 4 (Street number 4) is my favourite hangout area where I get to meet many friends from all over the world. I found in Soi 4, right in the heart of Bangkok, a place where two worlds meet. Many of the Thai boys who hang out in the area are from the Isarn province, hoping to meet a farang (white foreigner) companions who can take care of them. I am interested in how people from two completely different cultural background can relate to each other. These are the impetus for my Isarn Boy Soi 4 project. I have collaborated with photographer Tim Brightmore who is able to capture my vision and idea with the camera lens. The backdrop for the photo shoot was set up in a studio. I call this the ‘Red Heaven’.

Artist Statement by Maitree Siriboon

The exhibition is on until 24 January at Whitespace Gallery, Bangkok.