Sporting a pair of pin-striped pants, a bright red shirt and equally loud blue-red-white checkered jacket, Thai-Indian artist Navin Rawanchaikul looks as quirky and cheerful as his works.
His first exhibition in Hong Kong, titled Navinscope: Dim Sum Rider, at the Tang Contemporary Art gallery features hand-painted movie billboards that satirise scenes from Hong Kong films.
However, instead of movie stars, Navin has painted movers and shakers of the Hong Kong art scene: local artists, critics, gallery owners and art collectors. The works with their dozens of figures invite laughter but this isn't the only intention of the 37-year-old.
Beneath the mischievous artistic articulation, Navin - not unlike the court jesters of old - seeks to provoke some serious thoughts.
He says the works are a nod to Hong Kong's position as one of the biggest international art markets as well as to its iconic film industry.
'I recreated the Hong Kong movie scenes using a Thai-Indian painting style,' says Navin. 'I like to play with the idea: what is fiction and what is reality? It's also asking the question of what does it mean to be a star, because these people are performers in the field of art.'
