NEOTHAI is a post apocalyptic world full of dueling characters, mutated people, misunderstood artifacts, and histories told in new languages. This is the creation of Knn.Five, a Thai artist who’s been drawing the Fire Boy character at the center of this epic tale since his university days eight years ago and has building out the world around him as they’ve grown together. His recent NEOTHAICIVILIZATION show at Joyman Gallery was the fullest realization of this world to date, although it doesn’t answer every question and leaves a lot to be discovered.
Fire Boy is a perpetual child with four eyes and billowing flames for hair. His outfit is inspired by the Kuman Thong costume, a deity from Thai folk religion that people keep in their homes for luck, and the horse-like creatures they ride are a reimagination of the Naga. Unlike the other characters in this new world, Fire Boy still has human features from the previous era like fingerprints, allowing him to unlock archaic technology that others can’t. But he shares the four eyes that they’ve all developed, which keeps them safe from the constant danger lurking behind every corner in this new era.
Knn.Five, whose alias is short for his real name Kanutsanan Khemthong with the five added for good luck, created a whole tale for the way the collapse was interpreted by NEOTHAI’s inhabitants. They talk of the old humans (meaning us) scattering seeds of light across the ground to grow the illuminated the Tree of Light for several days. Of course, this is a misinterpretation of nuclear war, when missiles were launched and the Tree Of Light was actually the plume of an atomic explosion billowing high into the sky. These types of misinterpretations of the past are something that Knn.Five finds particularly interesting. He also talks about people discovering gundam helmets and mobile suits, then worshiping them like some type of sacred Buddha statue.
Of course, Fire Boy has an arch-nemesis named Twan, which translates into “sun” in English. While the hero recognizes the collapse for what it is—namely humans reaching for too much power only to find inevitable destruction, Twan actively seeks to reclaim what was lost, particularly nuclear technology. This is most clearly explored in his office, which Knn.Five recreated as an installation at his show, with a painting of a giant explosion hanging on the wall behind his desk. This is a story ripe for franchise potential, and Knn.Five happily keeps plenty of doors open to explore what could come next.
