Beyond Two-Dimensions
Show Displays Works Of Three Artists With Distinct Styles
BY MICHELLE VACHON
THE CAMBODIA DAILY (February 7-8, 2004)
The three artists whose work is on show at Silapak Khmer Amatak on Street 306 share one approach in their work.
Though their styles and techniques differ, their paintings all deal with emotions beyond the two-dimensional canvas.
For Chath pierSath, a community social psy¬chologist who started painting less than two years ago, art is a way to reflect the inner tur¬moil of Cambodians, he said.
In his portraits, faces are devoid of expres¬sion, as if numb with the pain accumulated over decades of fear and poverty. Out of thick layers of colors, they emerge in stillness, showing neither anger nor despair.
In "Compassion is Fake," only the dark red, blue and yellow whirl express the feelings hid¬den behind the mask-like face. "I feel vengeance piercing my skin," Chath pierSath wrote under the title to explain the figure's feelings.
In "The Dead Girl," serenity envelops the young woman in tones of soft gray, green and yellow, as she lies under trees in bloom. "The fallen is loved," wrote Chath pierSath.
In "The Mekong," a boy looks on, in a fog of blue and gray, a hut just discernible behind him.
Sopheap Pich's exhibitions celebrate Cambodian singers of the 1960s, whose songs are still popular today. Many of them came from Battambang and disappeared during the Khmer Rouge regime, he said.
In one painting dedicated to singer Huy Meas, her small, oval-shaped picture appears toward the top of the work, surrounded by fine white rays, which actually are the lyrics from one of her songs written in Khmer script. It tells the story of a woman on a plantation whose love has gone away. She begs the wind to "please tell my love that I really miss him," explained Sopheap Pich. "Huy Meas has a magical kind of voice - I love her voice," he said.
The paintings is in tones of black and blue, sprinkled with small pictures of other prominent singers from that era, and the head of a man whistling the tune at the bottom of it.
In "Oh Battambang," named after one of Sin Sisamouth's songs, lyrics written in white on ultramarine describe a man remembering the love of his youth and wondering what became of her.
Leang Seckon's artwork is as much sculpture as painting. The Buddha in "Shadow of the Phadiha" is a mosaic of silk and cotton squares, in shades of copper and burned gold, sewn together and decorated with sequins and writings in Pali and Sanskrit.
"Apsaras of the Khmer Empire, the Golden Age" also contains text in those two languages - Pali in which sacred Theravada Buddhist texts are written, and Sanskrit, the ancient language of Hindus in India. The figure in relief is made out of gold leaves, silk, cotton and mosquito net.
"The Beer Garden" is a collage of beer labels that create a harmonious scene of dancing Apsaras in golden yellow, red and blue. In two paintings, Leang Seckon ventures into the world of old beliefs and superstitions, depicting his own version of signs Cambodians draw in the countryside to keep evil spirits away.
Sopheap Pich and Chath pierSath moved back to Cambodia about 14 months ago. They were both 13 years old when they left refugee camps in Thailand and were relocated to the US, Chath pierSath in 1981 and Sopheap Pich in 1984.
Unlike Chath pierSath who specialized in international service and development and later in social psychology, Sopheap Pich is an artist by training. He studied painting in the US and France, collecting scholarship and awards along the way.
Leang Seckon, born in Prey Veng province in 1974, also is an artist first and foremost. He studied plastic arts and design at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, and, last year, spent two months in the US as a guest lecturer at a university in the state of Alabama, where his work was exhibited.
The three painters have been involved in SKA projects for some time, which led the organization to exhibit their work in its new office at No. 9 Street 306, SKA adviser Charley Todd said.
The exhibition, titled "Meik Sratum" (Overcast Day) runs through Feb 21.