Incorporating sound, painting and sculpture into his work, Santipreecha addresses political histories and climates from a range of places through his methodical, layered process—an engulfing triptych responds to the war in Ukraine, a cement painting probes the history of Nazi-sympathizing communities in Los Angeles and an obscured, painted-over image touches on the 1976 student massacre in Thailand, the artist’s native country. While he tackles very real events, his abstraction and obfuscated surfaces allow him to also explore the myths that societies have formed, such as nationalism and religion, as well as his own childhood memories; his dense works suggest ambiguity and uncertainty, as if they hide something waiting to be unearthed. With his Thai background (which I share with the artist), it makes sense that he would confront the political abstractly, coming from a place with militant censorship. His practice powerfully covers all of these things and ultimately examines the wide gap between myth and truth, realizing that history lies somewhere in between.

“Saun Santipreecha: Dandelye—or, Beneath this River’s Tempo’d Time We Walk” is on view at Reisig and Taylor Contemporary through July 29.

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