INVITATION
ARTAGENT & Plum Blossoms Gallery request the pleasure of your company to the two-part preview of
THE TEMPORAL GAZE
| MANIT SRIWANICHPOOMRepertoire of the Innermost
June 19 — July 5 2003 Cocktails from 6:30pm Thur 19 June |
  L-R: Ho, Ing K by Manit Sriwanichpoom |
| NATEE UTARITStill Pictures
July 10 — 26 2003 Cocktails from 6:30pm Thur 10 July |
  L-R: Defeat of Victoria, David 1 by Natee Utarit |
Plum Blossoms Gallery
#01-02 MITA Bldg 140 Hill Street
Weekdays 11am — 7pm, Weekends Noon — 7pm
Curated by ARTAGENT. Supported by Plum Blossom Gallery & Numthong Gallery.
Limited-run catalogues published to accompany exhibition. Private viewings available on request.
For more info, please call Helen at 97877788 or write info@artagent.com.sg.
ARTAGENT is pleased to present its first exhibition, THE TEMPORAL GAZE, comprising of solo shows by two of Thailand’s most exciting contemporary artists working with and experimenting in photo-prints.
The first show, Repertoire of the Innermost, presents one of Thailand’s most visionary photographers MANIT SRIWANICHPOOM. This rare black-and-white series on the Thai contemporary art world will be shown in its entirety for the first time outside of Thailand.
In this revealing portraiture series, Manit Sriwanichpoom boldly challenges, “What’s in your face? What’s in your face, shoved through the camera in my face?” Working closely with famous figures – artists, critics, curators, performers, he encourages them to break away from self-ego and play to his camera. Some pose naked; some perform for the camera; others are inspired to open up in ways they themselves find inconceivable. Revealing their inner psyches, their private freaks, their obsessions of the moment.
The second show, Still Pictures, presents 20 new works by NATEE UTARIT. These recently completed works continues Utarit=92s exploration with his much-lauded “Reason and Monsters Project” series, and will be the first time he works with photographic prints.
By visually quoting the great masters of the Western artistic tradition in his paintings, Utarit forces the viewer to question the very nature of artistic creation and originality, especially when his creativity takes the form of apparent destruction through deliberate application of enamel and wood stains. These 20 pieces are separated into two series. The first series ‘Death of Victoria’ features seven subverted variants of the classical sculpture from the Louvre, ‘Victoria de Samothrace’. The second series explores the concept of beauty using flowers and Greek busts as the central motif, giving a strange new life to these appropriated classical compositions.
ARTIST PROFILES
MANIT SRIWANICHPOOM
Based in Bangkok, Manit’s artistic career has been marked by his continual engagement and excavation of Thai contemporary culture in a global context. His exceptional work has recently placed him as South East Asia’s only entry in BLINK – a compendium showcasing 100 of the world’s rising stars in photography.
The past six years has also seen Manit working and exhibiting in Europe and Asia. Exhibitions include the 1st Fukuoka Art Triennial, the 24th Sao Paulo Biennale, “Global Scent of Thailand” in Edsvik, Sweden, “Thai-Tanic” in New York, and the traveling exhibition, “36 Steps from Asia” organized by the Singapore Art Museum. Manit was also given a solo exhibition at the Yokohama Museum of Art last year, and this year, he will be participating at the 50th Venice Biennale under the Thai Pavilion.
NATEE UTARIT
Based in Bangkok, Natee continually investigates and experiments with painting in its traditionally purest forms as well as in contemporary permutations. As such, he is one of the very few Thai artists of his generation whose works exhibit technical expertise as well as intellectual curiosity.
Although a young artist, Natee has already amassed a handful of important exhibitions both at home and internationally. These include the 3rd Asia-Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, “Unfolding Perspective” at ARS 01, Kiasma, Helsinki, “Snapshot” in Hong Kong and “Next Move” in Singapore.
ABOUT ARTAGENT
ARTAGENT, Asia’s newest curatorial and fine arts advisory, presents independently-curated exhibitions of contemporary art that explore themes that are relevant to our understanding of visual cultures today. Founded by Josef Ng and Helen Tay, ARTAGENT sets out to redefine curatorial strategies in exhibitions and to provide superlative fine arts services for its clientele.