Category: Art

Worldly wonders

FRI 28 | Preserving the planet’s biodiversity is one of the most pressing challenges of our times. Nature, a new photography exhibition with a distinctly scientific bent, presents a series of arresting images from 34 of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, as identified by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.

WHO: Nature lovers
WHAT: Nature: 34 Wonders Of The World photography exhibition
WHERE: Institutfrancais du Cambodge, #218 Street 184
WHEN: 8am November 27 –December 31
WHY: “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – Albert Einstein

20 Years, 20 Portraits

20YEARS-PPS-reviewandcomment-6

Don’t join the circus, it’s too dangerous for you’, my two big brothers warned me – even though they’re both circus students here. That’s what made me want to join, so I could prove them wrong! Since I joined the circus department in 2007, I’ve worked hard to reach the level of my brothers – they have both toured in Asia and around the world. I’ve now performed regularly for a year and a half in the big top, as part of the Bat Kang show. I remember feeling scared and anxious before my first performance. Now those feelings have given way to pride and joy… I want to travel, to become an independent artist, and to learn French. Being a circus artist will be a dream come true.” – Dara

The look on his face is nothing short of priceless. Daubed with paint in bright primary colours, expression two thirds delight, one part that of a champion mischief maker, the young clown gasps at the camera in mock wonder, raven locks bouncing atop his head in two springy bunches. Dara is one of Cambodia’s new generation of circus folk, an extraordinary breed marrying the humour of a comedy master with the physical prowess of a champion athlete. Five generations of performing arts students have now passed through the doors of Phare Ponleu Selpak, Battambang’s revered school of the arts. In new book 20 Years, 20 Portraits ($25), the organisation immortalises those students – and the artistic surge forward that they embody – in a surprisingly moving nod to its 20th year in service. Intimate photographs depict the homes, families and impossibly acrobatic pursuits of these young artists, each accompanied by a brief but poignant first-person testimony from its subject.

WHO: Cambodia’s finest circus folk
WHAT: 20 Years, 20 Portraits book launch
WHERE: Romeet Gallery, #34 Street 178
WHEN: November 25
WHY: “Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going, don’t take anything too seriously, it’ll all work out in the end.” – David Niven

Numerologist

Schooled in traditional Cambodian painting at the Royal University of Fine Arts, and later the Saint-Étienne École des Beaux-arts in Paris, Em Riem opens a new exhibition tonight. Glorious Numbers is a series of starkly confrontational portraits that conjure the horrors of S-21, the most notorious Khmer Rouge interrogation centre, in homage to its many victims. Says the artist: “I think of Man Ray: I, too, paint what I cannot photograph. And by painting these beings which were before their death photographed, I do not carry out a duty of remembrance. Much more humbly, I am then in a period for me almost always unspeakable and from time to time it comes to irrigate my creativity. I was a child then. But I did not forget. I began to paint in the memory of the victims of the Khmer Rouge about twenty years ago. There were the abstract paintings and there were portraits. In the peace of mind of my workshop, these faces do not haunt me; I just collect their suffering with love. I tell them: ‘You see good that you are not forgotten!’ I also tell them: ‘Each of you appears in the plenitude of its dignity because these numbers make in fact the glory of your humanity.’”

WHO: Em Riem
WHAT: Glorious Numbers art exhibition opening
WHERE: Tepui @ Chinese House, Sisowath Quay & Street 87
WHEN: 6:30pm November 21
WHY: Familiar horrors in a different light

Recycle, restyle

Living in the 21st century, it’s easy to become accustomed to the amount we consume and dispose. Almost everything we buy comes in plastic bags or wrapped in some other packaging. Few things are meant to last a long time, yet where does all this trash go? How do our actions affect the environment? Re-claimed, a new exhibition by students of Northbridge International School, aims to shed light on this global issue while highlighting art’s potential to both raise awareness and turn waste into something beautiful. This series of multimedia pieces includes original works created entirely from recycled materials.

WHO: Northbridge International School
WHAT: Re-claimed multimedia art exhibition
WHERE: The Insider Gallery, Intercontinental Hotel, #296 Mao Tse Tung Blvd.
WHEN: November 20 – December 15
WHY: Boost your eco-warrior credentials

Our future

Twenty five years ago today, the Convention On The Rights Of The Child was ratified, establishing fundamental rights for all young people: to survive; develop; be protected from violence, abuse and neglect, and take part in family, cultural and social life. Here in Phnom Penh, Unicef is marking the milestone with the help of Belgian photographer Isabelle Lesser, who hosted several Asia Motion workshops encouraging Cambodian kids to express their ideas through art. This exhibition is the arresting result.

WHO: Unicef & Isabelle Lesser
WHAT: Photo exhibition
WHERE: Wat Botum Park, Street 7
WHEN: November 20 – December 20
WHY: ““Millions of children are victims of violence and exploitation. They are physically and emotionally vulnerable and they can be scarred for life by mental or emotional abuse. That is why children should always have the first claim on our attention and resources. They must be at the heart of our thinking on challenges we are addressing on a daily basis. We know what to do, and we know how to do it. The means are at hand, it is up to us to seize the opportunity and build a world that is fit for children.” – Ban Ki-moon,
secretary-general of the United Nations
remarks on the convention in New York, 2009

What lies beneath: Srey Bandaul, Under The Sarong at Romeet Gallery

Emerging from a bed of charcoal, figures made of sarong and mosquito netting twist and turn, looking inward and outward. Together they are a community, but at the same time isolated. Srey Bandaul’s latest art installation, Under The Sarong, plays on an ancient Khmer custom and a familiar fashion item. “A man is not allowed to stay beneath the sarong or to walk under the clothesline, especially the one hanging sarong, because it causes dissonance with the demon and it leads to misfortune or being despised,” says the artist. “A man fearing his wife is always said to be paralysed by the edge of the sarong.” The metaphor extends beyond gender to embody all power relations, with the artist’s use of charcoal echoing those layers. “A chunk of charcoal in Cambodian society can be considered a negative symbol,” says Srey Bandaul. “It easily causes a stain and is feared by even ghosts and demons. When people think that a ghost, demon or evil spirit invades the village, they take charcoal to draw marks on the foreheads of children in order to frighten that ghost or demon. A Khmer metaphor says that to colour or paint one’s face with charcoal means to deceive or fake the truth. When the sarong goes together with charcoal, how could they not get stained? And what will become of this?” Alongside the exhibition is a screening of the artist’s video installation, Site 2, the name of the refugee camp on the Thai border in which the artist spent his formative years. He traces patterns acrossthis place,so loaded with memories, again using the fabric of the sarong and mosquito netting.

WHO: Srey Bandaul
WHAT: Under The Sarong art exhibition opening and Site 2 video installation screening
WHERE: Romeet Gallery, #34 Street 178
WHEN: 6:30pm Nov 21 to Dec 18
WHY: Discover what lies beneath

The Joy Of Art

Their beatific smiles are almost identical. One, little more than the sweep of a black-dipped paintbrush across canvas, conveys the inner peace of a Buddhist monk in repose. Rendered in almost childlike cartoon fashion, his simple features – eyes closed in serenity, fingers toying with the beads of a bracelet, elbow propped lazily against floor – transform this representation of traditional Cambodian divinity, a higher being, into something altogether more accessible to us mere mortals.

The other, carved of human flesh, is that of the artist himself. Sitting cross-legged in front of his vast monk-bearing canvas, French-Canadian cartoonist Stephane Delapree’s ample smile gives more than a hint of the essential nature of his latest exhibition. Entitled Happy Painting and opening this month at The Plantation’s Lotus Gallery, it’s an unprecedented collection of canvases the artist set about creating when he first set foot on Cambodian soil 20 years ago.

From his early days crafting, on paper, everything from comic strips to record covers, magazines and theatre posters to book illustrations, Delapree has since progressed to painting on ever-larger canvases to the point where, today, each of his works are over two metres high. Says the gallery: ‘The artist’s vision is naïve, with figurative motifs and vibrant colours. Stef’s paintings overflow with the joy of life and serenity. He constructs worlds where bliss and kindness reign supreme, as remedy for the unhappiness surrounding us.’

WHO: Stephane Delapree
WHAT: Happy Painting exhibition opening
WHERE: Lotus Gallery, Plantation Hotel, #28 Street 184
WHEN: 6pm October 29
WHY: Don’t worry, be happy!

The Surreality Of Xilitla

There is a place, in the Mexican town of Xilitla, where a man – English surrealist Edward James – gave birth to his irrational architectural dream. This impossible city lies hidden in the forest, with mysterious towers, unfinished stairways, gigantic concrete flowers, waterfalls, gothic arches and other grotesque elements. Here, in this exquisitely sculptured Garden of Eden known as Las Pozas (‘The Pools’), the organic and artificial blend; Edawrd James’ subconscious becomes tangible, and visitors find themselves wandering among the exquisite ruins of a long-lost culture.

Khmer-American artist Albert Samreth has created his own Xilitla, an exhibition running at Sa Sa Bassac until November 29. Atop a blue carpet, reminiscent of a water garden, are everything from interactive sculptures to a Khmer-speaking bird who might remark on how gorgeous you look as you pass, from ancient ruins to vast canvas curtains exploring the remains of Angkor and its mighty sunsets.

“I was fascinated by the unfinished monumental project of Las Pozas,” says the artist. “Incompleteness is the closest thing to immortality. It’s an ongoing process. James’ paradise reminded me of Angkor, another abandoned incomplete city.”

The cities of Xilitla and Phnom Penh have more in common than you might think, notes curator Erin Gleeson. “Xilitla and Phnom Penh are just 10 degrees apart from the equator. Xilitla and Angkor are both ruins in the forest. With every gesture in the gallery, the artist is talking to Xilitla, to Angkor, to Phnom Penh, making them communicate with each other. The project is also about time and change, translated in a very elegant way. In the commercial paintings bought, cut up and gathered by Albert in his collage, you have the representation of the representation which also relates to painting history in Cambodia. Albert is probably the first artist who has interrogated Angkor like that, suggesting a question: are these the ruins on our consciousness?”

Point out the vast blocks made of Styrofoam scattered around the gallery and the artist explains he’s going to write the dates of visitors’ first kisses on them. His rationale? These blocks might survive the passage of time, much like the Rosetta Stone, and when people discover them they will wonder about the meaning of those numbers.

Similarly, the exhibition’s talking common hill myna bird will be an unusual ambassador. Says Albert: “There is this idea that even if society ends, there will be this bird who can speak languages and let the history of humanity continue, a bit like these ruins from the past that we still visit today.”

And what would our English surrealist, creator of the original Xilitla gardens, make of it all? “‘Surrealistic’ is a state of mind,” says Erin. “It involves being able to connect things that normally don’t connect. You cannot rationalise in that room. In this sense the exhibition can be considered as surrealistic, but this is just one of the multiple connections.”

WHO: Albert Samreth
WHAT: Xilitla art exhibition
WHERE: Sa Sa Bassac, #18 Sothearos Blvd (2nd floor)
WHEN: Until November 29
WHY: “I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen.” – JG Ballard

Sticky Stuff

Bulbous eyes pop at you from the epicentre of an explosively bold-coloured wall. What at first glance suggests a desert mirage – here, perhaps, a pyramid; there, a river, maybe? – is in fact a bird’s eye view of a wallowing flat fish, bubbles of white and rust dappling its autumnal scales. So vivid are the colours in this unusual collage they more than hint at the fact something’s afoot. Berlin-based artist collective Tape That, inspired by the possibility of creating something new out of an everyday object, work primarily with Everyman’s best friend: duct tape. Rooted in the urban art movement, their works range from complex tape and light installations to minimalist black and white murals. They bring an undeniable, cartoon-like brightness to this concrete world: underground nightclubs, abandoned buildings, showrooms and galleries. Say Tape That’s Stefan and Nici: “Tape Art is a movement that comes from graffiti and street-art culture. In advance of graffiti, it’s great because it’s removable without leaving any damage. Our fascination is to create something artistic out of an everyday object. It’s very easy to use and the possibilities are endless. We can involve the surrounding space in our images as it sticks on many different surfaces, so Tape Art gives us the freedom to be accurate and precise as also free from technical boundaries and limits.”

WHO: Tape That
WHAT: Exhibition opening and live performance
WHERE: Meta House, #37 Sothearos Blvd.
WHEN: 7pm October 11
WHY: The non-sticky sticky stuff at its finest

Showtime

Existentialism & the Big Jop

A man with erratically frizzy hair tosses three bowling pins high into the air, watched over by a precariously balanced trapeze artist and a third man sporting an even wilder mane than that of the first. But these are not merely bowling pins, nor is this a straightforward trapeze. These tumbling pins are human emotions, juggled by a young artist; the trapeze, a mid-air attempt to discover one’s own identity.

Billed as a ‘modern circus show’, Me, Myself And Us is an acrobatic spectacular which tells the story of three young men, reunited randomly in a rather uncertain location, who attempt the impossible: living together. The resulting friction between personalities gives the show more than a taste of reality. There’s the ‘Little Prince’ character, who has yet to answer his own questions and live life to the fullest. Then there’s the ‘Pierrot’ type, with his head firmly in the clouds; clinging to his trapeze the same way others hold onto their dreams. Finally, Mr Smooth explores new ways of dressing in order to forge for himself a new, truer-to-self identity.

Leaping balletically from circus to contemporary dance to music, the show even features Creedence Clearwater Revival, energetically mixed on the spot by the performers. This 20-something trio – Naël Jammal, Guillaume Biron and Florent Lestage – have known each other since their student days at circus schools in France and Montreal and collectively call themselves the Tête d’Enfant (‘head of a child’) circus company, inspired by a line in the Marcel Carné film Les Enfants Du Paradis. “We don’t want to grow up, we don’t want to give up on our emotions and intuitions,” they quip.

WHO: Tête d’Enfant circus company
WHAT: Me, Myself & Us modern circus show
WHERE: The National Circus (opposite The National Assembly)
WHEN: 6:30pm October 3
WHY: “Keep the circus going inside you, keep it going. Don’t take anything too seriously; it’ll all work out in the end.” – David Niven