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Contemporary mediocrities
Life, Apinan Poshyananda, Published on 03/05/2021
» At the recent ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture's (OCAC) Art Collection in the spacious art hall on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, a group of ageing male artists covered in sanitary masks surrounded the director of OCAC, Vimolluck Chuchart, who gave a self-congratulatory speech. She proudly announced that the public will be able to view for the first time the national collection of the Ministry of Culture's contemporary Thai art. Beside these elderlies stood a white giant fibreglass sculpture by Sutee Kunavichyanont in Thai military uniform wearing a helmet with a rifle erect. Sutee's Equality; Thai Soldier (2016) is inspired by the cultural mandates between 1939 and 1942 during the premiere of Phibul Songkhram that aimed to uplift the national spirit and moral code of the nation and instil progressive tendencies and newness into Thai life.
Cool art in hot Japan
Life, Apinan Poshyananda, Published on 06/09/2017
» Recently, embattled Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet reshuffle was seen as a desperate attempt to improve his popularity that nosedived due to scandals involving ministers. Despite the summer heat in Japanese politics and the North Korean missile tests, the "Cool Japan" policy initiated by Abe's government to revitalise Japanese contemporary culture and art has developed.