Art Review: The Online Muay Thai Fight Club

Prashanta Natarajan, Features Page Editor

 

A crystal from Muay Thai Fight Club’s Instagram
Source: @MuayThaiFoodClub on Instagram

By: Prashanta Natarajan Muay Thai Food Club/ Muay Thai Fight Club is a secretive artist group specializing in pixel art depicting tropical scenes reminiscent of 90s anime and early handheld devices. The grainy surreal landscapes, saturated with blue water and palm trees, reminisce of a mix of 90’s japanese street culture and religious or mythical figures, such as demons, monsters, and spirits. Although their art cites heavy Asian influence, the nationality of their group is unknown. In fact, very little is known about this elusive group, except that they are fronted by a man known as Tsuki D. Sureiyā. Sureiyā sometimes posts videos on the @muaythaifoodclub Instagram story of himself, but an effect is usually added to disguise his identity and location. Their work typically depicts dragons, tanks, cognac, street fighter style warriors, and of course beautiful women, chilling in tropical climates that give it the true 90s vibe. While other members stay anonymous, a very clear sense of culture is conveyed through all of their media. Whether it is the spinning triskelion of blue moons that acts as the loading screen of their website (https://muaithaifightclub. ninja, buy their merch), the cryptic captions on Sureiyā’s deleted Instagram posts, or the mystical landscapes that they portray, it is clear that Muay Thai Fight Club is meant to embody the unknown, the cool, and the spiritual. Here is an example of one of Muay Thai Fight Club’s deleted Instagram posts: CHOOSE MORE THAN THE MATERIAL WORLD EFFECT /// … /// YOUR CURRENT NETWORK INTERACTS WITH THE FIELD SPACE AND MAKES IT DIFFICULT FOR UNTRAINED MINDS TO START SEEING ITS RICHNESS /// I HOPE MY WORK REACHES MANY OF YOU AND YOU ENTER TOGETHER THE NEXT AGE OF HUMANKIND In addition to their art, the group has created their own brand of heavy electro music. Their newest song, China Shipping, features a full length animated video in their distinct style, depicting Sureiyā rocking many different hairstyles, sleeping with women, and battling blue demons with lightsabers. Muay Thai Food Club’s art does not follow cultural norms, which is what makes them unique. They do not avoid stigmatized or censored topics, such as nudity and sexuality, but they also do not entirely revolve around such themes, which is why I personally find them so interesting. While you may want to be careful where you search them, as a lot of their art is not safe for work, I highly recommend that you do. Some more of Muay Thai Food Club’s SFW work can be found found on facebook.com/ MUAYTHAIFOODCLUB, and although not frequently updated, a lot of their posts stay up for longer than on Instagram.