Symbolism and parody in Thai artist Natee Utarit’s 'Optimism Is Ridiculous'

Natee's 'Faith And Doubt' (oil on linen, 2013). It is part of his 'Optimism Is Ridiculous' exhibition at the National Visual Arts Gallery in KL. Photos: RK Fine Art

If you think some of the paintings at the Optimism Is Ridiculous: Paintings On Figure Of Speech, Paradoxes And Inward Journey exhibition look familiar, it might be because you have seen something similar before, albeit in a different form.

Many of the works on display at the National Visual Arts Gallery (NVAG) in Kuala Lumpur echo the classical paintings, for instance, a docile lamb sitting pretty on a red cloth draws inspiration from French painter Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’s Grande Odalisque from 1814, which depicts a reclining nude.