Tinting the American Subject

a mere prop to significance; why it should be considered important is not examined. The installations and paintings by Vasan Sittikhet, on the other hand, don't immedi ately demand a nuanced engagement in their context or language. Their visual rhetoric shifts between neoexpressionism and the more bombastic tendencies of graffiti art, and the content is largely concerned with political corruption and perceived amorality in Thailand. While claims for the immediacy, urgency, and transparency, let alone political efficacy, of this mode of expression have long since been trashed in North American critical discourse, Sittikhet's work is gen uinely effective in lampooning establish ment mentalities in Thailand. His shows have