After Bangkok, Chiang Mai holds the torch as the second hub of contemporary art activities. Unfortunately, after its establishment more than a decade ago, the CMU Art Centre at Chiang Mai University hasn't achieved its ambition of becoming the northern city's artistic epicentre.
After its recent group exhibition to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Faculty of Fine Arts, the venue seems to be back to its regular dormant mode with mediocre exhibitions.
Nonetheless, the visual art scene of this northern capital still maintains a certain vibrancy from the contribution of several small venues scattered downtown, in the suburbs and outlying rural districts. Last month, a new art spot was opened in Mae Rim, about 12km from the city centre.
The name is familiar: H Gallery, and it's an extension of the respected gallery with the same name on Sathon Road in Bangkok, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Mit Jai Inn's "Untitled" has been picked by Brian Curtin, the gallery's regular curator and sometime contributor to the Bangkok Post, as the debut show.
This decision is appropriate, since Mit is not just a Chiang Mai native, but he's also known for his long-time dedication to bring out the artistic expression of his home town.
A conceptual artist, Mit was a major proponent to the well-known 1990s Chiang Mai Social Installation project as well as to the Midnight University, a Chiang Mai-based alternative art and culture institution that remains active today. The Silpakorn University drop-out is infamous for his belligerent and outspoken manner, manifested in his works as well as his public appearance.
Last September, he led the "112 Hunger Strike" project to protest against the Article 112 as a part of the madiFESTO 2011. This spirit of politico-aesthetics obviously remains in the current solo painting-based show at H Gallery.
Five canvas-based pieces are placed around the rectangular space. All share a motif: images of the Thai national flag.
The variations are achieved through different colours, textures and configurations. Two are traditionally rendered as large-size paintings. Another two are sculptures on the floor level: a scroll and a coffin-like structure. The fifth is a mobile installation.
But the major attraction comes from the choice of the black colour, the hidden footprints, and the smell of excrement, which are separately employed from piece to piece in this strong political representation.
The whiff of Jasper Johns' 1954 "Flag" collection is prominent. Similar to that Neo-Dada American painter, Mit mummifies the national flag in all his paintings (Johns worked with the American flag). In Mit's work, none of the flags are allowed to flutter, or to have a semblance of fluttering. Even in the mobile piece, the canvases are so thick that they look like frozen flags. In this condition, the viewers are forced to contemplate the content of rigid objects around.
It could be said that to appreciate the spirit of this collection we need to be put ourselves in a mode of strict, prescribed discipline _ similar to when we officially pay respect to the flag as it is raised. Recognised as a distinctive performance artist, Mit, in this show, requests us to do a brief and simple performance of our own.
Mit's works always spark argument, and this exhibition especially seems destined to. Some may reproach him for being disrespectful of an object beloved by many people in the nation. Others may question his dabbling in a commercial space, a part of the mainstream art market he once shunned.
And yet others may nag about his dearth of sophisticated painting skills. However, what makes us regard him as a true artist is his persistent dogma. This obviously pro-red shirt artist never forgets to embed a socio-political notion into his artworks, not for the sake of fashion, but out of honest ideology.
The nearly 80m2 of the H Gallery's Chiang Mai branch doesn't look large, but it properly serves the scale of art productivity of the north. While its twin Bangkok site is in an old wooden building, this is a new concrete one, completed this March. Tucked away in the middle of a vast paddy field of the Mae Rim-Samoeng valley, with a mountainous backdrop, the venue is a perfect stop for those who plan to see more than the nearby tourist attractions.
Mit's "Untitled" will be on show until July 31. The next show at H Gallery Chiang Mai is "Quiet Noise" from August to September. The group exhibition recruits mostly northern-based artists, both Thai and Western, and will include pieces previously seen at the Bangkok venue. Future programmes promise more local, regional and international artists.
H Gallery Chiang Mai is located 500m beyond the Tiger Kingdom in Mae Rim, a short drive from Dara Pirom Palace Museum. The gallery is open to the public by appointment only on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday each week.
Call 085 021 5508 or visit www.hgallerybkk.com.
