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Installation view of SOPHEAP PICH’s “desire line” at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, 2017. Copyright Sopheap Pich Studio. Photo by Kenji Takahashi. Courtesy the artist and Tomio Koyama Gallery.
Sopheap Pich’s “desire line,” presented at Tomio Koyama Gallery in Tokyo, was the internationally acclaimed Cambodian artist’s first solo exhibition in Japan, comprising 13 new and unseen works from 2015 to the present.
Two large-scale figurative sculptures, Rang Phnom no. 11 (2016) and Flames (2017), introduced audiences to what the artist is known for: beautifully woven sculptures made of rattan, bamboo and wire. For Rang Phnom no. 11, these materials are shaped into the forms of blooming flowers on a cannonball tree, which is associated in Southeast Asia with the tree that Buddha passed away under, and which is ubiquitously planted near Buddhist places of worship. Flames, on the other hand, evoked a cluster of candles, often seen as offerings in temples, appearing to be floating in a corner of the gallery. Both of the structures are voluminous yet incredibly light because of their porous constructions and thinly shaved natural materials. However, after spending some more time looking at the works, one perceives the presence of the negative space as increasingly apparent and powerful, and the actual sculpture starts to serve as mere contours to the void held within.
This interrogation of our perception of space can also be seen in the artist’s complex critical inquiry into painting, embodied in the work Arboretum (2015). Strands of bamboo, rattan and wire form a systematic, rectangular grid, with each vertical line splitting at the top of the composition in a “Y” form. These forked ends then merge again behind the surface, adding to the latticed backdrop, ultimately wrapping back around the vertical axis to the front. Looking at the countless “Y”s and following this repeated circular flow, a visual and psychological image of growing trees and cyclical seasons emerges—just as the title suggests. Through the work, Pich takes on some of the issues of painting that he has grappled with in the past—namely, two-dimensionality and the limitation of the frame—couching this investigation in the three dimensional realm he is now confident in.
SOPHEAP PICH, Mirage 1, 2017, red iron oxide and gum arabic on Arches watercolor paper, 161 × 131 cm. Copyright Sopheap Pich Studio. Photo by Kenji Takahashi. Courtesy the artist and Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo.
In other hybrid painting-sculptures, a more relaxed approach is seen. Pich cuts recycled burlap sacks into strips, and neatly incorporates them along with their holes, patches and plastic strings into a supporting bamboo-grid structure—the resulting quasi-canvas serves dual functions as both object and surface. Stepping into the realm of painting, Pich covers the surfaces of these canvases with resin and paint in The Dark Field (2017), and scrapes them off vertically along the bamboo structure in Lines in the Moss (2017). With dripping liquids and lines slipping down the surface, Pich creates compositions reminiscent of abstract expressionist works, or Mono-ha artist Lee Ufan’s “From Line” series (1972–84), showing his breadth of experience and knowledge as a trained painter. Through his appropriation of ready-made materials, the artist also references the notion of originality in a playful way, praising the beauty of use—the key concept of Soetsu Yanagi’s Japanese folk art movement Mingei, which Pich finds affinities with.
In relation to the influence of Mingei, the importance of craft in Pich’s practice is most evidently seen in his drawings, such as his “Mirage” series (2017), wherein one strip of bamboo is used as a stamp, repeatedly dipped into pigment and pressed onto paper. As in Indian block printing, the restrained, repetitive activity takes away the characteristics of the individual piece of bamboo little by little, and at one point the resulting lines become collective and anonymous. Reductiveness and anonymity are key qualities of Mingei and craft, and are echoed in Pich’s abstract sensibility.
Lastly, Moonstone (2017) and Miroiise (2017) are new sculptures inspired by Pich’s encounter with desire lines—eroded, manmade shortcuts—in the forest during his residency in Florida this spring. The shapes of these simple loops protruding from the walls began with the flow of natural wooden curves, and were continued by the artist according to his own direction. The two are separate works, although shown together they resemble Pich’s first ever sculpture Silence (2004). The artist seems to come back to organic forms often, yet departs anew each time with new findings.
Looking back, Pich has always made conscious and difficult choices at crucial points in his life, whether it was to become an artist, to return to Cambodia, abandon painting, or to stand on the border of art and craft. Quietly, he continues to create his own desire line, allowing us to follow the path he leads, sharing in what he has achieved on the journey.
Sopheap Pich’s “desire line” was presented across two locations; the exhibition was on view from October 27 to November 20, 2017, at 8/ ART GALLERY/ Tomio Koyama Gallery, and is on view at Tomio Koyama Gallery, Roppongi, Tokyo, until November 25, 2017.
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