Headache coming on for all

[rooster59]

Thailand’s answer to Banksy cheekily skewers all combatants in the coming election

By Phatarawadee Phataranawik 
The Nation Weekend

 

Prayut Chanocha looks like he’s got an unbeatable hand in his poker showdown against Thaksin Shinawatra. They’re the stars of an art exhibition by Headache Stencil, whose real name is best left unmentioned. Photo courtesy of WTF Gallery

 

Thailand’s answer to Banksy cheekily skewers all combatants in the coming election

 

The last thing voters expect to witness in the lead-up to this month’s election is a face-to-face confrontation between Prayut Cha-o-cha and Thaksin Shinawatra, but you can actually see it right now.

 

And they’re playing a fierce hand of poker.

 

It’s just fantasy, of course, an imaginative installation that provocative street-artist Headache Stencil has included in his exhibition “Thailand Casino” currently on view at Bangkok’s WTF Gallery.

 

Headache (Mr Stencil?) told The Nation Weekend that he sees the coming election as being akin to “a dirty game in a casino”. 

 

“I’m recording political history coming up to the election and showing the structures of control under the junta government,” he said.

 

The artist is not known for subtlety. He depicts Thaksin, the self-exiled former premier who still wields influence in Thai politics, holding a straight flush. But his nemesis Prayut, the coup leader and incumbent premier hoping to continue in the role as a civilian, holds a royal straight flush and his pockets are bulging with extra cards. 

 

As if the message weren’t clear enough, Headache spells it out for you, adding the word “cheat” to the wall behind Prayut. Behind Thaksin is a calendar with February 8 marked on it, emphasis added by an enormous lightning bolt. That was the day the Thaksin-affiliated Thai Raksa Chart Party put Princess Uboratana’s name forward as its prime ministerial candidate. 

 

It was indeed a bolt of lightning, but it fizzled later the same day when His Majesty the King put a stop to any member of the Royal Family venturing into politics. 

 

Thaksin and Prayut are rendered as half-length sculptures perched on a card table of green baize. Other figures with starring roles in the election are depicted in pop-art paintings and, in the case of Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit of the anti-junta Future Forward Party, in a Banksy-style stencil-print.

 

Chatchart Sitthiphan of Pheu Thai and Army chief General Apirat Kongsompong are wearing boxing gloves, each looking for the knockout. Newin Chidchob of Bhumjaithai is puffing on marijuana as per his party’s endorsement of legalising cannabis for medicinal purposes. 

 

Keeping an eye on the “dirty game” is Seripisut Temiyavet, leader of the Seri Ruam Thai Party, who happens to be a police general.

 

Army chief Apirat got involved when Pheu Thai, Future Forward and Seri Ruam Thai candidates started suggesting the military and its budget both needed to lose weight. He tried to silence the criticism by playing the ultra-patriotic, anticommunist 1975 song “Nak Paendin” (“Worthless”) often and loud. 

 

The tune barked its epithets from 160 Army radio stations several times every day before even the ruling junta found it excessive. The lyrics describe anyone who challenges royal or military status quo as a “burden to the country” and an “enemy of the nation” in need of elimination. 

 

It gave Headache Stencil a headache.

 

“The Army chief should remain neutral,” he said. “Politicians have the right to propose policies and the general has no business interfering. His action poisoned the atmosphere ahead of an election that will bring democracy back to the Kingdom again.”

 

This is the artist who tore a strip off Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan over his mysterious collection of expensive wristwatches with a head-spinning piece of wall art featuring Prawit’s portrait on an alarm clock, intended as sort of a wake-up call to citizens. 

 

Headache came in for some official harassment and his stencilled statement was quickly scrubbed away. 

 

He made his dangerous debut last year with a show called “Welcome to the Dark Side” at Voice Space, located in the Voice TV compound on Vibhavadhi Rangsit Road. It took caustic aim at the 2014 coup and military rule.

 

Prawit, co-leader of the coup, doesn’t escape notice in the current WTF exhibition. He’s a piggy bank now, etched with the words “Military Fund”, in case anyone wants to donate towards the purchase of tanks and submarines.

 

A painting titled “250:1” alludes to the 250 junta-appointed senators whose duty in the next government will be to make sure the Army gets whatever it wants.

 

“They will vote alongside the elected MPs to choose the next prime minister after the March 24 election,” Headache noted. “Critics expect them to naturally throw their support behind General Prayut.”

 

The more politics heats up, Headache said, the more paint he expects to spray on walls. 

 

That should keep him busy throughout the campaign – the exhibition ends on Election Day – but probably beyond that too.

 

“Unlike doing graffiti out on the street where the junta can remove my art, here in the gallery I have more freedom of expression to record the dark side of Thai politics.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30365052

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-02

[George Bowman]

Thailand does have some unique graffiti...

[Samui Bodoh]

I would LOVE to be known as "Headache Stencil".

 

I can just picture the scene; me dressed to the nines in a tux, suavely sauntering up to the bar, a gorgeous babe standing alone, checking me out, me eyeing her from top to bottom, her taking it all in coolly...

 

And you are...?

 

Stencil. Headache Stencil...

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2019 by Samui Bodoh

[Enoon]

 

Not quite a self-immolating market trader.....but who knows?

 

[AlexRich]

Some green baize, gambling chips, playing cards and a couple of tailors dummies without legs ... and I'll be a celebrated artist.

 

Reminds me of Tracy Emin's "unmade bed" ... a mattress, some sheets, a couple of fag packets and a few used johnnies ... another celebrated artist.

 

Pish!

[ParadiseLost]

A good example of how some people are paid way too much attention... ????

[Justgrazing]

You gotta hand it to them Thak's looks 'armless enough there .. though chair P has probably got something up his sleeve .. In more ways than one .. 

 

[steven100]

Thaksin's gone ..... forget him,  that's history.

[gamini]

At least, Thailand has freer speech than in Singapore where these sort of images would be banned.

[Burma Bill]

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

Thaksin's gone ..... forget him,  that's history.

Not up here in Isaan! He and his sister are still adored by many of the local rural people.

[Date Masamune]

At least, Thailand has freer speech than in Singapore where these sort of images would be banned.

Until Khun Headache is called for attitude adjustment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[impulse]

7 hours ago, steven100 said:

Thaksin's gone ..... forget him,  that's history.

 

If you recall, the coup in 2014 happened as an amnesty bill that surreptitiously included Thaksin was being run through.   Not hard to envision another one being snuck through in the future.

 

Edited March 2, 2019 by impulse

[lamyai3]

On 3/2/2019 at 8:47 AM, rooster59 said:

Thailand’s answer to Banksy

His street graffiti is excellent. Checkout the alarm clock mentioned above, Return Thailand to Happiness, and this one about the black panther.