Visual Arts October (1).qxp_Layout 1 17/09/2021 13:50 Page 1
Visual Arts previews from around the region
Mit Jai Inn: Dreamworld Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, until Sun 21 November
“When I paint,” explains Mit Jai Inn, “it’s not only with my eyes, but with all of my senses: touch, smell, movement. The whole entity.” Mit’s art spans many forms and sees him using hands, fingers and palette knife to dab, slap and pull paint across his canvas. “For a long time, I never cared about going hungry or my security. I was more concerned about utopian things - a new age for society, humanity. For people in Thailand and Myanmar, the situation is getting worse and worse. There’s so much abuse of power and justice. Trying to confront these things matters more to me than my own life. My living this way has often worried my friends and family, especially my mother. She wondered how I could survive. But I lived happily. I was like a hippie. Something would always happen and I’d find some money. “I see art as a utopian dream within everyday life. Sometimes you want to practise but you can’t because the opposing structures are too strong. Making objects might seem conventional, but they really function. Painting is healing. It calms my nerves; like meditation.”
44 whatsonlive.co.uk
