In this Book

summary
“To be an artist is … just like shit in a clogged toilet, stubborn shit that can’t decide whether it wants to be flushed or to stick around” writes acclaimed artist Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook. Composed as an irreverent dialogue between masculine and feminine narrators, this book of essays is an uncategorisable fusion of art criticism, feminist theory, art pedagogy, gossip and autofiction. It is also an invaluable insider account of Southeast Asia’s contemporary artists being catapulted into international circuits since the 1990s. Araya’s provocative prose is lyrically translated from Thai for the first time by Kong Rithdee, one of Thailand’s most influential cultural critics.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title pages

pp. i-xii

Contents

pp. xiii-xv

Preface

pp. 1-2

Note on the Text

pp. 3-4

Introduction

pp. 5-20

Male Ego, Female Superego

pp. 21-34

An Artist's Insecurity

pp. 35-49

Personal Society

pp. 50-64

Oh Frustration

pp. 65-80

Stars, Water and Ageing

pp. 81-95

Love Your Rules

pp. 96-107

Joy

pp. 108-122

Melancholic Joy

pp. 123-149

Mother's Hand

pp. 150-161

The National Exhibition of Art

pp. 162-175

From a Flicker\r\nto a Broken Dream

pp. 176-187

Art: Safe Space

pp. 188-200

"Postmodern": A Stranger in the Village

pp. 201-212

You, Artmakers, Are You Immune?

pp. 213-228

Posing for Documenta 11

pp. 229-241

Ooooh-Aaaah in Art, Towards the Art of Life

pp. 242-254

The Culture of Art in a Distant Land

pp. 255-269

Letters to the Lunatic

pp. 270-282

The Gathering of Women Artists of the 20th and 21st Centuries

pp. 283-295

Double Exposure

pp. 296-309

Life in Nature, Nature in Art

pp. 310-325

On the Question of Asianness: "Edge of the Earth" in Hangzhou

pp. 326-338

From Fragments to Sum Total of the Artist's Body

pp. 339-353

Confronting Art, Confronting Strangers

pp. 354-368

Image and Word

pp. 369-382

Dreams

pp. 383-397

Time to Say Goodbye

pp. 398-414

Translator's Note

pp. 415-423

Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook: Between and Beyond (He and She)

pp. 424-468

Acknowledgements

pp. 469-470

Index

pp. 471-480

Copyright

pp. 481
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