NEWS/COLUMN
Curated & Written by Chum Chanveasna
Khvay Samnang, Popil, 2018
Digital still from the video from two-channel video, color, sound 21’59”
The Generation in Transition: Changing Practices in Cambodia Contemporary Arts project presents the portfolios from different generation of artists of Cambodian who live and work in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and presents video documentary of artists, telling stories about their art practice and works from their studios. It is the first extensive project of contemporary art from this region presents for Mekong Contemporary Art Foundation this year.
For about more than fifteen years now, Cambodia has been experiencing an economic, ethical perspectives on the environment, development, politic and sustainability changed, which has had impact on communities and society. This change, with its positive and negative impacts, is frequently reflected in the works of contemporary artists, from generation to generation who have lived up in these interesting times of transition.
The project is trying to find way of feature the works with different context, different perspective and from different generation of artists, to define the way of changing and to experience with reality in Cambodia society.
These portfolios will not present only previously existing works, press and publication but the projects show more about practice of change, perspective of change, and the expression from artists, with different concerns and modes of artistic expression. These have been configured in several important themes: tradition, history, urban, environment, identity, humanity, politics and society in the art. The contemporary ideas are expressed through both traditional, modern and contemporary media like painting, drawing, mixed media, photography, video, sculpture, installation and performance.
The artists and people who cooperate in this project;
Leang Seckon
Khvay Samnang
Lim Sokchanlina
Kong Vollak
Tith Kanitha
Chov Theanly
Neak Sophal
Pen Robit
Sao Sreymao
Eng Rithchandaneth
Khiev Kanel
Chhun Phanith
Yuto Yabumoto
Kazue Suzuki
One Asia Lawyers
Leang Seckon was born in 1970 in Prey Veng Province, Cambodia. He was born during the outbreak of the American bombing of Indochina and grew up during the rise of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Seckon graduated from the plastic art department in 1996 and from the design in 2002 at the Royal University of Fine Art in Phnom Penh, where he lives and works today. Seckon’s painting and collaging art practice offers on memories, historic, current points and personal narratives of his childhood and chronicles an undocumented Cambodia.
Leng Seckon is one of the first generation of Cambodian contemporary artist in 2000s. His works have been exhibited locally and internationally. Read More >>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Leang Seckon (Painting/Mixed Media)
Leang Seckon’s speech about his work at his studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Leang Seckon, Prediction, 2018, mixed media and collage on canvas, 190 x 371 cm. Courtesy of artist and Rossi & Rossi Gallery
Leang Seckon, The Elephant and the Pool of Blood 1, 2014, mixed media and collage on canvas, 200 x 150 cm. Courtesy of artist and Rossi & Rossi Gallery
Leang Seckon, Help Mother (Mekong), 2013, mixed media and collage on canvas, 150 x 150 cm. Courtesy of artist and Rossi & Rossi Gallery
Khvay Samnang was born in 1982 in Svay Rieng, Cambodia. He graduated from the Painting Department at the Royal University of Fine Art in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he lives and works today. Samnang’s multidisciplinary practice offers new views on historic and current events as well as on traditional cultural rituals using humorous symbolic gestures. In his work, which includes all media, he focuses on the humanitarian, environmental degradation and ecological impacts of colonialism and globalization. The development of each body of work is based on thorough research and investigation of local specificities, structures and conditions.
Khvay Samnang is a founding member of artist collective Stiev Selapak an art collective dedicated to reappraising and remembering Cambodian history and exploring continuities in visual practices disrupted by civil war and the Khmer Rouge regime. In 2010/11, Stiev Selapak set up two nonprofit art spaces in Phnom Penh: Sa Sa Art Projects (2010-Ongoing), for experimental residencies, creative education programs, exhibitions, and other special collaborative projects; and SA SA BASSAC (2011-2018), a gallery, resource center, and reading room.
Khvay Samnang is one of the most recognized Contemporary artist in Cambodia and on international art scene. Read More >>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Khvay Samnang (Photography/Video/Performance/Sculpture/Installation)
Khvay Samnang’s speech about his work at his studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Khvay Samnang, Popil, 2018, Digital still from the video from two-channel video, color, sound 21’59”
Khvay Samnang, Untitled, 2011, Digital C-Print, 80 x 120 cm
Khvay Samnang, Preah Kunlong, 2016-2017, Digital C-Print, 80 x 120 cm
Lim Sokchanlina was born in 1987 in Prey Veng Province, Cambodia. He works across documentary and conceptual practices with photography, video, Installation and performance by using different strategies, he calls attention to a variety of social, political, geopolitical, cultural, economic and environmental changes in Cambodia in relation to the globe.
Lim Sokchanlina is a founding member of artist collective Stiev Selapak an art collective dedicated to reappraising and remembering Cambodian history and exploring continuities in visual practices disrupted by civil war and the Khmer Rouge regime. In 2010/11, Stiev Selapak set up two nonprofit art spaces in Phnom Penh: Sa Sa Art Projects (2010-Ongoing), for experimental residencies, creative education programs, exhibitions, and other special collaborative projects; and SA SA BASSAC (2011-2018), a gallery, resource center, and reading room. He recently helped establish Analogue Prints Laboratory, the first public-access darkroom in Phnom Penh. Read More >>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Lim Sokchanlina (Photography/Video/Installation/Performance)
Lim Sokchanlina’s speech about his work at his residency studio in Fukuoka, Japan
Lim Sokchanlina, Wrapped Future II, 2017-2019, Digital C-Print, 80 x 120 cm
Lim Sokchanlina, National Road Number 5, 2015, Digital C-Print, 60 x 90 cm
Lim Sokchanlina, Rising Tonle Sap 1, 2012, Digital C-Print, 80 x 120 cm
Kong Vollak was born in 1983 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He graduated from the sculpture department at the Royal University of Fine Arts. He currently lives in Phnom Penh, where he also works for Ministry of Education Youth and Sport of Cambodia as art teacher. He is a remarkable artist who works primarily with charcoal, ink and pencil on paper and he does sculptures with any kind of material, he does etching and lithography with ink on paper and recently he does photography with film, digital and sketching. He focuses on urban life and architecture – skyscrapers, wires and streets; history and memory. Read More >>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Kong Vollak (Sculpture/Drawing/Photography/Installation)
Kong Vollak’s speech about his work at his studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Kong Vollak, Invisible Conversation, 2017
Kong Vollak, Work Hard, 2016
Kong Vollak, The Building, 2013, Etching on paper, 23” x 17”
Tith Kanitha was born in 1987 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She graduated from interior design at Royal University of Fine Arts where she lives and works in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She is multi-passionate creative art that focus on her personal life, personal experience, memories and environment. She has freedom to make art. Kanitha is known artist who works primarily with steel wire and actress. Recently she explores more in the film.
Tith Kanitha is one of emerging Cambodian Contemporary artist and her work has been exhibited locally and internationally. Read More >>
Tith Kanitha
Tith Kanitha, Untitled, 2015, hand coil wire
Tith Kanitha, Guardian of Coldecygne, 2015, hand coil wire
Tith Kanitha, Linga Meditation, 2015, hand coil wire
Chov Theanly was born in 1985 in Battambang province, Cambodia. He has been learning traditional drawing and painting with his uncle who is a sign painter since 1999. He graduated from Graphic Design at Vocational Training Center of Battambang (2007) and he graduated from Law Major at Chamroen Poly Technology in Phnom Penh (2011).
His works focuses on many things close to his life and drawn from his own experience as artist, through a simple gesture to tell the story of everyday life and personal aspirations. He is sparing and efficient with his use of colors and lines. Read More >>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Chov Theanly (Painting)
Chov Theanly’s speech about his work at his studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Chov Theanly, Striving 11, 2016, oil painting on canvas
Chov Theanly, Striving 6, 2016, oil painting on canvas
Chov Theanly, Surviving, 2013, oil painting on canvas
Neak Sophal was born in 1989 in Takeo province, Cambodia. She graduated from Graphic Design at Royal University of Fine Arts. Her works focuses on social issues and specificities of the Cambodian culture, stories, memories and fear through composed portraiture in collaboration with her subjects. she makes question of identity behind each character that is perform the Cambodian who still very afraid of inside because of the culture or the wars.
Neak sophal has been involved in workshops, festival, solo and group exhibitions locally and internationally. Read More >>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Neak Sophal (Photography)
Neak Sophal’s speech about her work at her studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Neak Sophal, Land for Sale, 2018, Digital C-Print, 60 x 90 cm
Neak Sophal, Stay in, 2011, Digital C-Print, 60 x 90 cm
Neak Sophal, Leaf, 2012, Digital C-Print, 60 x 90 cm
Pen Robit was born in 1991 in Battambang province, Cambodia. He graduated from Phare Ponleu Selpak in 2010. His art practice primarily employs painting including occasional live painting and performance. His painting draws on various techniques, shuttling between figurative and abstraction, and often comments on social realities. Read More >>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Pen Robit (Painting)
Pen Robit’s speech about his work at his studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Pen Robit, Women Under the Light, 2010, oil on canvas
Pen Robit, Krama, 2013, enamel paint on canvas, 120 x 150 cm
Pen Robit, Thread (Blue), 2018, oil on canvas, 120 x 150 cm
Sao Sreymao was born in 1986 in Site 2 refugee camp, Thai border. She graduated from Phare Ponleu Selpak’s School of Visual and Applied Arts, Battambang province in 2006, and was a participant of Sa Sa Art Projects' Contemporary Art Class in 2016. Her multidisciplinary practice includes painting, comic, photography, digital drawing, sculpture and performance. Her works explore personal expression and memories, as well as the changing physical and psychological landscapes of Cambodian urban and rural communities. She has also collaborated with various writers in visual storytelling and published a number of graphic novels.
Sao Sreymao was an artist fellow of Sylt Foundation to undertake a residency in Sylt, Germany in 2017. She was also a recipient of Dam Dos Grant 2018 of Cambodian Living Arts. Read More>>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Sao Sreymao (Comic/Digital Drawing/Performance/Installation)
Sreymao’s speech about her work at her studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Sao Sreymao, Left Over, 2017, Digital C-Print, 60 x 90 cm
Sao Sreymao, Under the Water (Try to live), 2018, Digital C-Print, 60 x 90 cm
Sao Sreymao, Under the Water (Village house), 2018, wax and clear glass
Sao Sreymao, The Pressure, 2018, live performance
Eng Rithchandaneth was born in 1993 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She graduated from design at SETEC Institute, Phnom Penh. She took Art Classes at Sa Sa Art Projects in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She is a member of White Building Collective, a group of young artists who make short films and publish photo “Human of Phnom Penh” online photo stories. An active member of the White Building community. Recently she works for TV show and drama movies as Set Designer and Art Director. She works on Photography, film, sculpture and installation. Her works offers on economic, environment and social issue. Read More >>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Eng Rithchandaneth (Installation/Photography/Video)
Eng Rithchandaneth’s speech about her work at her studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Eng Rithchandaneth, Root, 2019, installation, variable dimension
Eng Rithchandaneth, Inside Out, 2016, unfired clay, dimensions variable
Eng Rithchandaneth, Destroy, 2015, single-channel video with sound, 4’29”, looped
Eng Rithchandaneth, 101, 2015, unfired clay, dimensions variable
Khiev Kanel was born in 1988 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He graduated in Computer Science and Auditing but he turned to photography in 2013. He works on photography, moving image and performance. Kanel’s art practice focus on personal stories, environment, economic and social issues. His personal work expresses self-depression and fragile feeling from the loss of family members which could resonate with other people who experience similar issues. His other strand of work concerns social oppression, social justices and human rights, including the problems generated by urbanization and environmental degradation such as eviction, land right and pollutions (water, air, noise, and light).
Khiev Kanel has been exhibited widely in Cambodia and regionally. Read More >>
The artist interview :
Cambodian artist, Khiev Kanel (Photography/Video/Performance/Installation)
Khiev Kanel’s speech about his work at his studio in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Khiev Kanel, Pineapple Eyes, 2018, photos and videos installation, variable dimension
Khiev Kanel, Bricks, 2018, Digital C-Print, 60 x 90 cm
Khiev Kanel, Before the Raze, 2017, Digital C-Print, 40 x 60 cm
Khiev Kanel, The Burden, 2017, live performance
“Generation in Transition: Changing Practice Cambodian Contemporary Art”
Curated by
Chum Chanveasna
Supported by
Mekong Contemporary Art Foundation
One Asia Lawyers
