Predictions of the end of painting have been with us for over a century. Within Southeast
Asia however, painting continues to develop as a major medium of artistic expression with
its own unique aesthetic sensibilities, and it is in this context that The Singapore Art
Museum presents After Painting, a mid-career survey of Thai artist Natee Utarit. An
exceptional painter whose career spans over two decades, Natee’s stunningly vivid paintings
have for a long time, been a series of dialogues and debates with elements of established
Western painting traditions, his ultimate aim has been to develop new possibilities for
painting. The artist’s recent work, however, has increasingly been commentaries on Thai
society and identity, and helps place him among his fellow Southeast Asian artists who
continue to use visual art as a way of reflecting on the changing social-political situations in
the region. Natee Utarit: After Painting features more than 70 paintings drawn from the
Singapore Art Museum, the Bangkok University, the Queensland Art Gallery as well as
private collections in Europe, Asia and the region