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Published on August 23, 2007

Some people may think they've stumbled upon the code to a lottery jackpot, but the numbers in the name of Michael Shaowanasai's new show - "Untitled: 2007. (26, 34, 39, 59 and 503)" - merely identify the Bangkok buses from which he's been observing the world's progress.

The show - at the Numthong Gallery until September 22 - is absent of any provocative self-portraits of Michael as a monk in pancake makeup or as a beauty queen, and there's none of the sexual innuendo that's had previous works tossed out of exhibits.

Instead, there is plenty of his other passion: wordplay.

"I like taking the bus home at night - it's fast and cheap," says the artist who doubles as a film director, actor and gay activist. "I always take one of the single seats. I stick my head and arm out the window and feel the wind as the bus zooms along a quiet road. These are what I call my office hours."

Inspired by the neon-lit advertising billboards he sees on his journeys, Michael has created three neon arrays that spell out the same thing in English, French and Chinese: "Art is never for all".

"The text in any advertising billboard has to convey high quality and a positive meaning - I wanted to do the opposite. In my 10 years as an artist I've dared to point out that art is never for all, it's only for a particular group of people who have adequate information and buying power."

Doesn't Michael mean "education" - those who are educated enough to appreciate art? No, he prefers the term "information".

Another neon sign says, "Goo la buer", meaning "I'm so damned tired".

"It's a very popular curse in contemporary Thai culture when we see or hear something unpleasant," he explains. "I was in Paris and somebody told me there'd been a coup in Thailand, and a prominent figure in Thai art immediately used this phrase."

Still another sign is fashioned like those you see in shops, ribbon-style, but instead of carrying a cheery, hopeful message like ruay (rich) or rungrueng (eternal glow), it reads, "Fark wai gone ter mueng". It's an expression of vengeful anger - "I'll get you later!"

Just how far we've deviated from Buddhist teaching is suggested in another set of signs. The term phra puth (Buddha) is projected on one wall, while other walls have the words phra tham (dharma) in gold-leafed teak with the final letter fallen on the floor, and phra song (monk) with a US dollar sign.

"The missing character in phra tham questions whether we attach ourselves to other things more than the core principles of our faith," Michael says. "The phra song sign uses type characters normally seen in signs for low-class cafes. It challenges the current role of monks as they carry on the words and wisdom of Lord Buddha."

Michael the pun master had three canvases in his 2005 show at Chulalongkorn University, each bearing words that mixed English and Thai letters, and all with sexual meanings. Alongside was the Thai word for "flower", rendered in gold dust - "golden flower" is a Thai term for a bitchy girl.

In last year's "New Painting" show at the Numthong, his canvases carried words like dee (good), samadhi (focus) and sa-ngob (calm), and there was a light box like the ones used by street vendors that had rungrueng written on it in faux Chinese calligraphy.

"I was experimenting," Michael says. "I was eliminating my usual self-perceptions and wanted to know how people reacted. The feedback was mostly positive and all the works sold.

"To me, art is excrement," he adds, nevertheless. "I used to present the portraits of myself as other people, and they were like invitations to a cooking demonstration. At the demonstration I'd show people the ingredients and the methods, and let them imagine what my excrement would look like if I ate the dishes made that way.

"Now I'm bored with presenting elaborate dishes. I want to present the digested thing or the excrement to show how good the food is that I eat. Can you see the fibres of the carrots and other vegetables? Our excrement can indicate how healthy we are."

The Numthong Gallery is on the first floor of the Co-op Housing Building on Thoetdamri Road. Drop by Monday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm. Call (02) 243 4326.

Khetsirin Pholdhampalit

The Nation