CONTEMPORARY ART IN CONTEXT

SOPHEAP PICH  CONTEMPORARY ARTIST

Sopheap Pich at work in his studio. Image courtesy of the artist.

Sopheap Pich (b. 1971) is regarded as Cambodia’s most internationally recognized contemporary artist, renowned for producing sculpture in local materials, such as bamboo, rattan, burlap from rice bags, beeswax, and earth pigments. His works are inspired by landscape, Cambodian history, plant forms, and even human anatomy. Pich hopes that viewers will derive feelings of positive energy and joy from his work as they ponder the intricacies of his materials and weaving techniques. Pich began working in rattan in 2004, and has since developed a distinctive abstract structure for his sculptures that, in their organic geometry, suggest scaffolding for forms that are yet to be built.

Seated Buddha and Other Works
Pich’s primary materials—bamboo and rattan—come from indigenous Cambodian sources. Pich weaves these materials together using a technique he learned as a child while making fishing baskets with his father.

Seated Buddha pays tribute to historical Cambodian metal and stone sculptures that depict the Buddha achieving enlightenment. The expertly fashioned grid depicts distinctive Southeast Asian Buddha iconography such as his crown-like top knot (ushnisha), his gestures (mudras), and his seat on a low pedestal close to earth.

Rang Phnom Flower is an interpretation of the rang phnom (cannonball) tree, which Pich first noticed on a trip to Ratanakiri in northeastern Cambodia. These trees—revered and never cut down for wood—are routinely planted in Buddhist temple grounds because they resemble the sal tree, under which the Buddha is said to have been born.

Pich’s works are typically left in a natural state as a tribute to the beauty of the natural materials. In recent years, Pich has extended his focus to include industrial junk from trash heaps of developing Phnom Penh. This is seen in La Danse, which is composed partly of discarded aluminum.

Sopheap Pich, Untitled, 2019. Bamboo, rattan, goat hide, wire, burlap, synthetic resin, 108 x 73 x 13" (275 x 185 x 33 cm). Image courtesy of the artist.

Art History: Natural Materials
The use of bamboo and rattan in basketry is a centuries-old tradition in East and Southeast Asia. The extension of that discipline into works of abstract sculpture or unusual modern design is an exciting development in contemporary art. Beginning in the 1970s, many artists began to use natural materials in their work as they became aware of the consequences of climate change and the detrimental effects of human progress on the environment.

Many contemporary artists working in these materials, such as furniture designer Kenneth Codonpue (b. 1968) and bamboo sculpture artist Fujitsuka Shōsei (b. 1949), produce works using similar traditional techniques as Pich. Western artists such as Martin Puryear (b. 1941) also highlight the distinctive qualities of the natural materials they use.

About the Artist
Pich was born in Battambang, Cambodia. Fleeing the Khmer Rouge dictatorship, and after spending four years in refugee camps in Thailand, Pich and his family emigrated to the United States in 1984. He received a BFA in painting from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (1995) and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1999), before returning to Cambodia in 2002.

Sopheap Pich, Seated Buddha-Abhaya Mudra, 2012. Bamboo, rattan, wire, plywood, 99 x 87 x 43" (252 x 222 x 110 cm). Image courtesy of the artist.

ARTIST Q&A
Do you have specific strategies, rituals, or routines that help you work and/or generate ideas?
SP: I think being around nature and animals has been the most enriching for me, spiritually speaking. I have planted many trees in the land around my studio, so I am surrounded by flora and fauna all the time. Whenever I travel, I like to find parks and gardens to walk, observe, and think in. I also meditate a few times a week and started taking guitar lessons last year, which I wish I had started to do sooner. To generate ideas, I make sure I always have a small notebook and pen with me at all times.

Tell us about one of the biggest moments in your career.
SP: One of the biggest moments in my career happened in 2006. I was at the lowest point of my life in Cambodia, having newly turned to sculpture from painting, but still struggling to pay rent, amongst a myriad of other challenges. At that time, a Norwegian gallery located just outside of Oslo invited me to be an artist-in-residence for two months. That allowed me the freedom to work without interruption and to have the courage to continue with sculpture with a newfound energy and confidence.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself as an emerging artist?
SP: Some advice I would give to an emerging artist would be to rely on your discipline in doing the work even if you do not feel inspired. This means that one should always think about art, read on art, look at art, sketch, and take notes. Another would be to not think only about money when it comes to selling your work but to look for friends, local collectors, and art appreciators and have them own your works. Also important is to work with people with good reputations when it comes to seeking representation. Though some may disagree, I always encourage artists to sacrifice luxury for a chance to have a studio space to work. Lastly, is to be careful about who you take advice from and be open to criticism when it comes from people who know more than you and care about you.

Does working in welded steel or other metals for large-scale works change your perception of your pieces?
SP: In the last two years or so, I have been using aluminum to make my paintings and large tree sculptures. Because this aluminum is essentially old pots and pans that we buy from recycling depots, it is soft and weak as a material. To strengthen it into a variety of forms, I have had to use armatures and fiberglass to reinforce the pieces from the inside. But in terms of how my work comes about, I still rely on slow manual labor because, in the end, I feel that I am always learning something new when I work this way as opposed to having the work made, for instance, by a fabricator or producer who is outside of the studio. Something that I have learned to accept when I work with external parties is that the work requires that the lines must be made a certain way. When I’m happy with the lines, I can see that the result will meet what I am after.

What (if any) symbolism does the grid—outside of traditional Cambodian basketry techniques—hold for you, as it is a major element in many of your sculptures?
SP: Though some of my forms have been interpreted that way, I did not think of traditional Cambodian basketry techniques at all when I was making my first sculptures with rattan. In 2004, I had the urge to make a three-dimensional form because I felt that I had hit a wall as a painter. Because I did not have the necessary tools to make sculpture, I was simply trying to find a way to make a form.

Someone once said that if you are an artist, you can make anything, even with just a piece of string. That was the way I had to think at the time because I barely had access to materials. Tying strips of very flexible rattan together with metal wires to make a grid pattern allowed me to build very large forms without the structures collapsing on themselves. Any relationship this might have to traditional craft was only the realization that I could also make art using simple techniques and inexpensive materials.

Sopheap Pich, Cargo, 2018, bamboo, rattan, metal, 99 x 235 x 96” (253 x 597 x 244 cm) per unit. 

Sopheap Pich, Rang Phnom Flower, 2015, bamboo, rattan, metal, plywood, 65 x 163 x 305” (166 x 415 x 775 cm). Images courtesy of the artist.

DISCUSSION
Show students images of traditionally woven craft objects, such as baskets, that are made from different materials. Discuss the properties with students, asking them to imagine what the textures might feel like and what techniques might be needed to shape them. Conclude by introducing Pich’s work. Ask students where the materials he uses might come from and what may have inspired them. After informing students about Pich’s work and history, ask “What aspects of Pich’s sculpture do you find most interesting?”

STUDIO EXPERIENCES

• Work with wire, string, or natural cord to create a three-dimensional sculpture.
• Create a small maquette for a larger sculpture that depicts an important noncommercial symbol or figure.
• Design a plan for a monumental public artwork that honors your family’s cultural, religious, or spiritual traditions. Include a detailed sketch, list of materials, proposed location, and written description explaining your subject. You get bonus points if the community can interact with your sculpture in some way.
• Create a scale model of your public sculpture that demonstrates how it fits into your proposed location.

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Written by Karl Cole, Art Historian and Curator of Images at Davis Publications, and Robb Sandagata, Digital Curriculum Director and Editor at Davis Publications. kcole@davisart.com