Mit Jai Inn

Mit Jai Inn (b. 1960, Buak Khang, Thailand) lives and works in Chiang Mai and is known for his distinctive color based works. Using palette knives, hands and fingers, he builds vibrant, densely layered pieces that press past the conventional boundaries of painting and hold both manual and optical labor within them. Rooted in a rigorous physicality, the work serves as a channel for responding to aesthetic, social and political contexts, and reflects a range of histories from the traditional division between Western and Eastern painting to Thailand’s shifting political landscape. Since returning to Thailand in 1992 he has been involved in socially and politically engaged art campaigns, and he co-founded three non-institutional initiatives central to Thai art practice and discourse: Chiang Mai Social Installation, the Midnight University and The Land Foundation. In 2015 he founded Cartel Artspace in Bangkok, a gallery that gives free space to artists reflecting on the political history and present condition of the country and region, and in 2017 he co-initiated the independent Bangkok Biennale. His traveling institutional solo exhibition Dreamworld #dreammantra was presented at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai, having previously been shown at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham and the Jim Thompson Art Center in Bangkok. His work has been included in solo and group exhibitions at TKG+ in Taipei, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo and Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and he has participated in the Aichi Triennale, the 21st Biennale of Sydney at Cockatoo Island, the Singapore Biennale and the Yokohama Triennale.