Country Home Sheriff

Country Home Sheriff by Oat Montien
Curated by Kasamaponn Saengsuratham
JWD Art Space, Bangkok
2 May – 14 July
Opening reception 2 May, 5pm – 10pm  

JWD ART SPACE is pleased to present Country Home Sheriff, a solo exhibition by Oat Montien. The exhibition presents an exploration of the cowboy archetype as an epitome of masculinity, Inherited from his late father’s wardrobe. Montien uses cowboy aesthetics as a device to challenge and queer the prevailing notion of masculinity while coalescing the relationship between him and his cowboy-loving father.

The exhibition features a three-channel video installation titled ‘The Exquisite Fall (2024)’, a newly commissioned piece, along with a series of objects, poems, VHS home videos, and drawings gathered as a biographical site of the artist and his late father.

The exhibition titled Country Home Sheriff comes from a Western-style pub, ‘Country Home,’ where Montien’s father used to run. The cowboy-themed pub and restaurant is fully decorated with cowboy paraphernalia, buffalo skulls, and Native American headdress. The affinity for cowboy culture was a major trend among Thai men during the 1990s, as it promised freedom, especially for outsiders in the lawless areas of the northeastern and southern regions, which are far removed from the central authority. The widespread popularity of The Western Hollywood films between the 1960s and 1980s has significantly influenced Thai cowboy culture.

Following his 2023 exhibition ‘Desert Lasso and Other Adventures of The Gay Asian Cowboy’ presented at Tom of Finland Foundation. The artist continues to expand on the theme of Western-style cinema.  The Exquisite Fall (2024) internalizes the tension between a heterosexual male and a homosexual male, placing them into a duel. The work interrogates the memory and relationships between Montien and his late father through fictional storytelling, leading to the artist’s personal domain, which is both obscure and obscene.

*The exhibition contains graphic images and nudity. Individuals under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.*