Infinity. By definition it’s a rather large subject for an artist to take on. The unfurling of the unbound cosmos, the illimitable arcs of space and time, the endless hours you wasted going to see Les Miserables; none of these are concepts easily captured on canvas.
Em Riem, however, is an artist unafraid of tackling subjects of epic scope. Trained in Cambodia and France, Em’s artworks have shown around the world from Cartagena to Darjeeling. In 2011 here in Phnom Penh he exhibited Eternity, a series of abstract works addressing the enduring shadows of the Khmer Rouge era; on March 13 at The Insider Gallery, InterContinental, he will show Infinity, a series which pushes beyond simplistic representation and represents nothing less than infinity itself.
The idea of conjuring the infinite within the definite confines of 160cm squared canvas hanging in a hotel foyer may sound a bit farfetched. But as Em explains, “the freedom of abstraction is that of colour,” and so he uses this to transcend the limitations of boring old physicality. The paintings of Infinity display slabs of drenched pigment which refuse a representative function: peony pinks and oceanic blues have an almost three-dimensional sensuality to them, creating an indefinable interchange of form and tone. Is it a shape? Is it a colour? Neither. It’s the infinite, depicted in glorious Technicolor.
Infinity stands in contrast to some of Em’s previous work. In Tenderness (2012) he gave us portraits of couples and families painted to resemble black and white photographs from the pre-Khmer Rouge era. A meditation on the moribundity of traditional Khmer cultural mores, the series was time-bound both in its aesthetic and its idea-old-timey look, nostalgia for old-timey values. Nothing could be further from infinite space and time.
Nothing except fashion, of course. The fashion industry, predicated upon time-limited trends and styles which will make you cringe roughly five minutes from now, would surely be anathema to an artist producing work like Infinity? Not Em Riem. A man of protean abilities – visual artist, sculptor, designer, gallerist – you’re as likely to find Em designing sculptural gold and leather breastplates as you are to see him making pictorial observations on the space-time continuum.
Em explains this apparent contradiction by invoking Picasso, who described two categories of artist: those who transform the sun into a yellow spot and those who transform a yellow spot into the sun. Em describes himself as belonging to both categories at once, able to slip between representative and metaphorical at the drop of a hat: “My eclecticism often expresses in the reversibility of those two functions because, despite a long-time commitment to figurative art, I always comes back to abstract painting.”
It’s abstract art to which he returns with Infinity, hoping, as he explained in an interview with art4d.asia, to capture something beyond the infinite: “With art, imagination expresses a transcendent and indefinable truth… art projects us beyond time and makes us a present unconditionally.” Transcendent truth and the immortality of the moment? Not a bad way to spend infinity.
WHO: Em Riem
WHAT: Infinity exhibition
WHERE: The Insider Gallery, InterContinental Phnom Penh, Mao Tse Tung Blvd.
WHEN: March 13 – 31
WHY: You don’t have to be Buzz Lightyear to experience Infinity