Eat Me Restaurant invites art lovers to a special cocktail event, featuring the work of rising artist Mongolrak (Mong) Jutanont, with proceeds donated to SWING

February 27, 2023 / News

Eat Me Restaurant invites art lovers to a special cocktail event, featuring the work of rising artist Mongolrak (Mong) Jutanont, with proceeds donated to SWING

Event & Exhibition Opening: Wednesday 8^th March, 17:00- 20:00

Bangkok, 27 February 2023 – Award-winning Eat Me Restaurant is hosting a philanthropic cocktail event, to celebrate the opening of ‘Alien Nation’, the debut exhibition of artworks by Mongolrak Jutanont, a self-taught visual artist from Bangkok. The event, in association with Single Use Productions, aims to raise funds to support SWING, a local (Bangkok/Pattaya) community-based group, providing much-needed outreach services to adult entertainment workers, their families and the LGBTQ+ community at large.

Eat Me Restaurant, featured multiple times on ‘Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants’ list, and now celebrating 25 years on the Bangkok dining scene, remains fresh and visionary thanks not only to its award-winning dining experience, but also due to its place in the vanguard of art and community involvement. On 8^th March 2023, during this cocktail benefit, the restaurant and the artist, in association with SINGLE USE Productions, an inclusive philanthropic organization, will dedicate a significant portion of artwork sales to SWING, to support the continuation of their charitable work in representing, mobilizing and empowering the lives of the community they help, on a daily basis. The event is being supported by TQPR Thailand.

SWING’s long-term commitment to human rights in Thailand

SWING (Service Workers in Group) is approaching its 20-year anniversary, as a critical provider of outreach and welfare services to adult entertainment workers in Thailand, and by extension to the surrounding communities. They work tirelessly to safeguard sexual health, promote sex education and prevent HIV infection, as well as providing support for mental and sexual health issues and building awareness of gender-based violence. Scores of workers, their families and communities depend on SWING. Their Bangkok and Pattaya offices are a safe haven for diagnosis, treatment and medicine, as well as for legal and psychological counselling and assistance.

As a small charity providing services to such a community, an organization like SWING faces challenges, in generating sufficient donations to continue its vital mission, to protect affected communities as a whole, due to perceived stigma attached to the core community they serve. This means that support from independent artists such as Mong, community stalwarts like Eat Me Restaurant, and philanthropic individuals, who care for the health and well-being of fellow human-beings less fortunate than themselves, is crucial in the continuation of SWING’s indispensible work.

Mong’s ‘Alien Nation’ offers pointed, amusing commentary, aimed at normalizing conversations around sex, sexuality and sexual equality

Mong’s exhibit ‘Alien Nation’ is an especially apt fit for this charitable evening, as the artist sees sex and sexuality as still largely taboo subjects in contemporary Thailand. A 36 year-old forensic artist, Mong has spent 13 years delivering hyper-real drawings required by the Criminal Sketch Department of the Bangkok police force. Here, in this exhibition of his new works, Mong seeks refuge from the harsh, mundane realities of everyday life by venturing into alien worlds, where, he ponders, “Could life be better?”

In much the same way as he may piece together visual elements of a criminal’s description, filling in the details as the victim’s recollection permits, Mong’s artworks begin somewhat haphazardly too. His process starts with the outlines of random elements on the page, which, at first glance, have no connection to each other. Slowly he fills in the details, which is his ‘dialogue’ with the page. This conversation continues until the whole image feels complete and balanced, however long that takes. The finished work is as much a surprise to the viewer, as it is to its creator.

With the works in ‘Alien Nation’, appearing cartoonish and childlike in nature, at first regard, Mong’s layering of patterns and styles contrasts starkly with some of its content, which records sexual acts, intended to amuse rather than shock. Through the public display of these paintings, Mong aims to evolve the dialogue, promote better sex education, and engender acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community, while delivering the message that, with continual dialogue, disparate entities can create acceptance, harmony and cohesion – to the betterment of society. The exhibition, set over three floors of Eat Me Restaurant, Bangkok, continues until 7^th May 2023.

About the Event & Eat Me Restaurant:

Alien Nation at Eat Me Restaurant, a benefit event for SWING takes place on:

Wednesday 8 March, from 17:00 until 20:00

Please note that the Alien Nation exhibition remains on display at the restaurant until 7^th May 2023.

Location: 1/6 Pipat 2, Convent Road, Silom, Bangkok

Off-street parking is available in the Eat Me carpark, 40m after the restaurant.

Eat Me Restaurant is open every day from 5pm until 1am, with last orders taken at 1am. For Eat Me Restaurant dining reservations, please contact:

https://eatmerestaurant.com/reservations/

About the Artist

A 13-year forensic artist by trade, Mongolrak ‘Mong’ Jutanont counterbalances the hyper-real of criminal sketching with the whimsy of his artistic ambitions. His cartoon-style layered drawings and paintings are inspired by fantasy realms and parallel alien universes, with cheeky and explicit content. Mong’s commissioned works include government calendars, private artworks and large-scale public murals, depicting alien utopias. Beginning with the placement of random and seemingly disparate entities, his continuous layering of connecting elements leads to a combined balance and harmony. Mong’s method is a visual expression of his social commentary on how to normalize conversation on sexuality and how to achieve equality for all.

About SWING

For more information on SWING and its services, please see their website (currently Thai language only): www.swingthailand.org/ or on Facebook at Swing Thailand.

The Silom branch is located at: 5^th Floor, Building No 3, Soi Patpong 1, Surawong Road Bangkok. Phone: 662-632-9502

About SINGLE USE Productions

SINGLE USE Productions is an inclusive organization dedicated to endorsing ‘Hedonism with Heart’. SINGLE USE events are aimed at raising funds for charity, while spreading joy, making memories, promoting unity, and advocating for equality, through a movement of minds, hearts and souls, as one. Giving back, with an open mind, to make the community stronger, is at the very core of the SINGLE USE essence.

For more information, please contact:

$Description: D:\tqpr stuffs\TQPR logos+map+org\TQPR logo [Converted].jpg$ TQPR Thailand, 02 260 5820