Natee Utarit

Mother (from ‘Appearance and reality’ series) 1998

Mother is a triptych belonging to Natee Utarit’s ‘Appearance and reality’ series. Made in 1998 the three paintings are portraits of Utarit’s mother; however, they are representations of his mother as viewed from behind, rather than of her face. Working from photographs and life sittings, the artist presents an alternative idea of portraiture while attempting to encapsulate her emotional state.

Since the death of his father in 1976 Utarit has been aware that his mother has contained her grief as a private yet continued state. Both artist and mother share this ordeal and Utarit’s structuring of these paintings is one method of revealing and contemplating this complex situation in a subtle manner.

When viewing these works, it is possible to relate to the quiet intimacies of human emotion and experience, between physical expression and the associated containment of memory and feeling. As the artist states: ‘My painting then serves as a communication channel between the inside and the outside set under the relationship of what we see and feel’.¹ Utarit’s works expose the private sensibilities of the artist and his mother. In doing so, they provide an opportunity for the viewer to in part access another human being’s state of mind, as an experience that may be shared, drawing upon their own experiences and understandings of their own history.

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