NATEE UTARIT : After Painting - Singapore Art Museum

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NATEE UTARIT
: After Painting
French artist Paul Delaroche said in 1839 that with the invention of cameras, painting is no longer
needed, since photographs can capture the realness of an image, as clearly or even clearer than a
painting.
Do you agree with him?
In Southeast Asia, many artists still use paintings to express themselves.
Natee Utarit, an artist from Thailand, is an extremely skilled painter. In this exhibition, he shows
us how painting is still important today to show images and tell stories. Natee Utarit: After
Painting showcases the artworks of Natee Utarit over the past 20 years.
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GO TO GALLERY 2.4: BEGINNING AFTER PAINTING
In his earlier works, Natee Utarit wanted to think about how objects, subjects and landscapes can be shown
in paintings.
How many ways can you look at the same thing?
1. Look for this painting, Exterior. How are these paintings different in colour?
2. Now look for this painting, Interior, which is made up of four paintings placed side by side.
Can you guess what is being painted here?
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GO TO GALLERY 2.3: PAINTING AFTER PHOTOGRAPHY
3. Look closely at this painting. What do you see?
4. Does the image look like an animal, an object or a
person?
5. Compare this painting with Mother.
The artist painted this picture when he thought about his mother. What words come to your mind
when you look at this picture?
Did you know?
Natee Utarit is very close to his mother and his mother is being featured in both his paintings here. In Motr Figure,
he es an abstract style to represent his mother while in Mother, he uses a more realistic style. Do you know what
abstract and realistic style is? Search for their definitions on the internet!
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Look for this painting, Kyotek Sae Wu 12 photographs during 1969 – 1973
6. What do each of these paintings look like to you?
7. Who are these people in the paintings? What do you think is their relationship to each other?
Did you know?
In the 1960s, a camera is a luxury item for most people, and the lucky ones who owned one often take photos at
every opportunity to capture moments in their lives so that they can remember them in the future. Do you think
paintings serve this purpose?
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GO TO GALLERY 2.1 AND 2.2: PAINTING ABOUT PAINTINGS
From 2000 to 2006, Natee Utarit started to look at paintings as images and as objects of art. He started to
create paintings by painting one image on top of another so that we are looking at two different images
within one painting.
8. Look for this painting, Conversation with Bleaching Fields near Haarlem 1670-75, Jacob Van
Ruisdael. Describe what you see.
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Natee Utarit also re-created well-known masterpieces (famous paintings celebrated for their beauty and art
technique) by famous western artists like Titian and Caravaggio, but he stained them brown so that people
will think twice about what makes a masterpiece ‘beautiful’.
9. Look for the paintings Judith and Couple. Can you see what is being painted clearly?
10. Do you think these paintings are beautiful? Why?
Did you know?
The masterpieces that both paintings are based on are known as Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio and
The Three Ages of Man by Titian. Try search for images of these masterpieces on the internet and see how different
Natee Utarit has treated them
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Look for this painting, Beautiful Portrait of Beautiful Photograph of Beautiful Classical Sculpture.
11. This is a painting of a sculpture. Have you seen sculptures before? Where did you see them?
Where else do you think you can find sculptures?
12. If you make a sculpture of someone, who would that person be, and why? Draw your
sculpture in the space below.
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13. Look for this painting, Asian Renaissance. What colours do you see in this painting?
14. If you could give this painting another name, what would it be? Why?
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GO TO GALLERY 1.1 AND 1.2: PAINTING AS NARRATIVE
From 2005 to 2009, Natee Utarit started to use the characters in his paintings to tell a story. In this gallery,
his paintings are stories about Thailand and the Thai society.
Paintings are not just images – they can tell stories too.
15. Symbols are images, characters, or figures used to represent something else that share the
same value or meaning to it. For example, a heart shape represents love, while smiley
face is used to express happiness.
What about an upside down horse as seen in this painting White Horse? What do you think
it means to have the horse painted upside down?
16. A horse usually has a knight riding it, but the knight seems to be missing here. What do you
think happened to the knight?
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17. Look for the paintings Micro History of Politic No. 3 – Lost and Tragedy.
Look closely at the animals on the left and on the right. What do you think happened? Write
a short story on why the animals have fallen down.
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18. What do the green soldiers here in this
painting, Green Soldier, look like to you?
19. What do you think these soldiers are doing?
How would you feel if you were one of these
soldiers?
20. Look for The Prince.
Look closely at the Prince in this painting. What is
wrong with his body?
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21. Look for The western light no. 1 and Long Live The King. What are the colours used in these
two paintings?
22. How do these colours make you feel? If you could change the colours of this painting, what
colours would you use and why?
23. The King in the paintings is looking away. What do you think he is looking at, and what might he
be thinking about?
-END-
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Suggested answers for Natee Utarit worksheet
1. The one on the left is more bright and fresh with colours like yellow and green, whereas the
one on the right is duller, with colours like grey and dark green. It looks like the landscape on
the left is painted during summer time while the one on the right is done during winter time.
2. An interior of a room is being painted here, with the focus on different corners of the floor
and the wall.
3. From the title, we know this painting shows a mother figure. We can make out a female
figure seated on the ground with her head bowed down and her legs curled beneath her
(the brown section represents her hair while the white section represents her body).
4. Students’ free response to whether the image looks like an animal/person/object.
5. Students’ free response. Example of words: loving, caring, kind, warm, nurturing. etc
6. The individual panels look like photographs.
7. It’s a young boy and a middle-aged couple. They look like a family (mother, father and son).
8. Students’ own response. Suggested answer: It looks like a photograph is being pasted in the
middle of a landscape painting. Student can also describe the picture- I see clouds, grassy
fields, etc.
9. No, we cannot make out what is being painted here clearly, because the original subjects
have been stained over by a brown stain, so the colours and outline are not seen clearly.
If the student thinks it is pretty easy to make out the images on the paintings- it looks like
both paintings are of women/females.
10. Students’ personal response. Suggested answer: Yes, because we can still make out the
meticulously painted subjects that were done in great detail.
OR: No, because the paintings look dirty/old/the colours are dull.
11. Students’ free response to whether they have seen a sculpture before, and if they have,
where.
You can find such classical sculptures in art studios, art schools/classrooms, museums, or
public places where busts of important people are put up to commemorate their
achievements or contributions.
12. Students’ free response to who they would want to make a sculpture of, and consequently
drawing the picture in the space.
13. Students’ free response. Suggested answer: yellow, brown, green, grey, white, black, red,
orange.
14. Students’ free response.
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15. Students’ personal response to what an upside down horse means to them. (e.g. a horse in
trouble/a confused horse, etc)
16. Students’ free response to what they thought happened to the knight. (e.g. he got
kidnapped/lost/hunting, etc)
17. Student’s free response to what happened to the animals. Suggested answers- they fell
ill/there was a hurricane/they all could not get along and died)
Students are free to express their creativity when writing the story as long as it fits the
paintings.
18. Suggested answer: the green soldiers look like plastic toys.
19. The soldiers look like they are in battle/war/about to fight an enemy.
Free response to how the student would feel if he/she were one to the green soldiers.
Feelings can be- fearful/ scared/terrified/worried/ charged-up to fight/prepared.
20. The Prince’s head and body/torso is facing in opposite directions.
21. Colours: black, grey.
22. Students’ personal response to how the above colours make them feel. E.g.
sad/solemn/gloomy/moody/mysterious/tranquil/cold.
23. Student’s free response to what they think the King might be looking at and thinking about.
(e.g. I think the King is looking over his kingdom and is thinking about how good his country
is.)
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