100 Tonson Gallery proudly presents Stereotyped Thailand, Sutee Kunavichayanont’s first solo exhibition on home turf for nearly five years. Known for his engaging site-specific multimedia installations, Sutee invites “students” to participate in his bitingly satirical schoolroom project on national and global perceptions of being Thai.   

Offering visitors of all ages the opportunity to reminisce (and question) their formative classroom teachings, Sutee has revamped his popular pseudo-classroom of graffiti-carved desktops, so that visitors can playfully create customized take-home desk rubbings. The schoolroom is further enlivened with student portraits, faux architectural models of Thai skyscrapers, advertising billboards, thematic printed wallpaper, and a pin up of the quintessential Thai hero and heroine. 

In Stereotyped Thailand, Sutee drills away at the notion of the sweet Thai smile to explore deeper issues of state-nurtured, subjective cultural modification and promotion, the socio-economic and political motivations behind this cultural artificiality, as well as the false and distorted impressions it instils on those living both within and outside the given environment.  

At 40 years of age, Sutee Kunavichayanont graduated with a Masters degree in printmaking from Sydney University, and currently lectures Fine Art at Silpakorn University. He has held solo exhibitions in Thailand, Singapore, Japan, The Netherlands, France, and Canada, as well as participating in several prolific international art exposés. He was a recipient of the 2002 Silpa Bhirasri Creativity Grants, and most recently co-curated the second Thai pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale.