The eyes, long recognised as the window to the soul, are often hidden, out of frame; the silencing finger is held to the lips, mouths are mute, tongues still, torsos twisted and distorted, forms forcing the skin to acknowledge something… we are in a dreamlike space, sometimes a nightmare. The images are strong, frequently malevolent, but softened with a latticework of flowers that weave from painting to painting.
We are in a world of secrets, the hidden, the unspoken. But just as our bodies can unwittingly deliver up our invisible thoughts, the paintings expose the universal truth of our inner secrets. We are walking through Secrets, the latest exhibition by Oeur Sokuntevy, at Java Café and Gallery until January 12.
“A secret. It’s in here. The secret is something that you live with in your mind,” says the Battambang-born and -trained artist, an artist who observes life around her and transforms it into surreal and compelling paintings. These works come from observing how difficult it can be for people “to tell their own secrets to somebody, or express feelings to someone. I know, it’s Cambodian, they don’t do, but I do understand them and I transfer the feelings through the painting.”
The dreamlike space that the paintings conjure up draws us into the internal mind where secrets live. “Something in the mind, it’s something that’s connected. I think both are connected. For example: you have a feeling, you’re afraid of something, you’re worried about something. You can dream about it.” Ubiquitous flowers form something of a rope on which the connection can hang. “Mostly in these paintings I combine with the flower. The beautiful strong flower, scary flower, it connects to our emotions: a human being, they could be open, they could die.
Sokuntevy’s work rises as much from the social and emotional environment as the physical. “What do I think about, what is my feeling about? I always ask myself, what is my mood today? It depends on how I feel; it’s Cambodian daily life, everything that’s around me. After I’ve finished all of that, I make the story out of it, so I always ask myself what I like most in this month: I like to draw people, I like to draw flowers and then I combine and I make up the story.”
Sokuntevy is aware of her position as a young Cambodian artist, a link between the older, more traditional world of Angkor Wat oil paintings and the new world of Facebook and iPhones. “I’m a new generation. I’m from my parents, of course. I know how to speak English and I learn other cultures and I like to speak, so show my feelings. Cambodians like my parents will not tell these stories to me, but I do understand the story and I tell the story and try to combine, to make up the painting. Of course it’s not 100% the story about this person or that person. It’s the general idea.
“People inspire me. Everyone. When they say something to me, I always keep it in my mind and I can transfer those ideas into the painting. Everybody is different. Some people they have to drink tea before they draw, some people draw and they have tea later.”
WHO:Oeur Sokuntevy
WHAT: Secrets art exhibition
WHERE: Upstairs at Java Café and Gallery, #56 Sihanouk Boulevard
WHEN: Until January 12
WHY: Unlock the secret: some people they have to drink tea before they draw, some people draw and they have tea later