Sopheap Pich

Reliefs

April 18, 2013 — June 14, 2013


ENLARGE

Untitled (Vertical Shadows Alignment), 2012

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, earth pigment, charcoal, oil paint

63 x 47 x 3 in. (160 x 120 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Embers and Dust No.1, 2013

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, earth pigment, charcoal, oil paint

79 x 79 x 3 in. (200 x 200 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Untitled (The Night No.2), 2012

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, Damar resin, beeswax, charcoal

79 x 79 ¼ x 3 in. (200 x 201 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Luminous Falls No.1, 2013

bamboo, rattanm wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, charcoalm bronze powder, copper powder

79 x 79 x 3 in. (200 x 200 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Gold Drips on Black No.2, 2013

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, charcoal, bronze powder, copper powder

79 x 79 x 3 in. (200 x 200 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Embers and Dust No.2, 2013

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, earth pigment, charcoal, oil paint

79 x 79 x 3 in. (200 x 200 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Gold Drips on Black No.1, 2013

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, charcoal, bronze powder, copper powder

47 x 47 x 3 in. (122 x 122 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Luminous Falls No.2, 2013

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, charcoal, bronze powder, copper powder

79 x 79 x 3 in. (200 x 200 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Barren Land, 2013

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, synthectic resin, charcoal

79 x 98 ½ x 3 in. (200 x 250 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Fertile Land, 2012

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, earth pigment, charcoal, oil paint

79 x 79 x 3 in. (200 x 200 x 3 cm)

ENLARGE

Untitled (Black over Maroon Wall Relief), 2012

bamboo, rattan, wire, burlap, plastics, beeswax, Damar resin, earth pigment, charcoal, oil paint

63 x 47 x 3 in. (160 x 120 x 8 cm)

ENLARGE

Installation View of "Reliefs" at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, April 18 - June 14, 2013

 

 

ENLARGE

Installation View of "Reliefs" at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, April 18 - June 14, 2013

 

 

ENLARGE

Installation View of "Reliefs" at Tyler Rollins Fine Art, April 18 - June 14, 2013

 

 

Works

INSTALLATION VIEWS

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Reliefs, Sopheap Pich’s third solo exhibition with Tyler Rollins Fine Art, features new works from the artist’s Wall Reliefs series, which debuted at last year’s Documenta (13) in Kassel, Germany. On view from April 18 to June 14, 2013, the show coincides with a solo exhibition of the artist’s work, Cambodian Rattan: The Sculptures of Sopheap Pich, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (closing July 7, 2013). The May issue of Art in America features an eight page article on Pich’s life and work by Gregory Galligan, and his work is highlighted on the cover of the May issue of Orientations magazine, with an in-depth article by Metropolitan Museum of Art curator John Guy. A one hundred page monograph, Sopheap Pich: Sculptures 2004-2013, has just been published by the gallery, containing a survey of Pich’s major sculptural works over the past ten years along with an extensive interview with the artist conducted by Christov-Bakargiev, artistic director of Documenta (13).

While using the same locally sourced materials seen in his earlier, more free-flowing works, Pich’s grid-based Wall Reliefs reflect the artist’s increasing interest in abstraction and conceptualization, as we now see Pich exploring the expressive possibilities of the grid, which has always served as the basic structural unit for his sculptural work. Pich’s Wall Reliefs consist of rattan grids partially covered with strips of burlap taken from used rice bags that had been previously repaired with colorful bits of string and twine, showing the care with which even these humble materials are treated. The works in the series come in two main colors – red and black – that Pich derives from natural materials: the red or ochre pigment is made from powdered clay he collects from different parts of Cambodia; while the black is derived from charcoal used in cooking fires in the artist’s studio. Referring to the Wall Reliefs series, Pich says, “these grid works, reduced to their bare materials and shapes, represent for me a kind of distillation of emotion, of remembrance, of reflections on what has influenced me, or the places I have been.”

Pich is widely considered to be Cambodia’s most internationally prominent contemporary artist. Working primarily with thin strips of rattan and bamboo, he creates sculptural forms that address issues of time, memory, and the body, often relating to Cambodia’s history, particularly with regard to his recollections of life during the Khmer Rouge period (1975-79), and its culture, both its ancient traditions and contemporary struggles. Pich’s work stands out for its subtlety and power, combining refinement of form with a visceral, emotive force. After receiving his BFA and MFA in the United States, Pich returned to Cambodia in 2002, where he began working with local materials – bamboo, rattan, burlap, beeswax and earth pigments – to make sculptural forms that reference social and political conditions in Cambodia. His childhood experiences during the genocidal conditions of late 1970s Cambodia had a lasting impact on his work, informing its themes of survival, family, and basic human togetherness. Pich’s work has been featured in numerous international museum exhibitions and biennials in Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States, including the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2009), Asia-Pacific Triennial (2009), Asian Art Biennial (2011), Singapore Biennale (2011), and Documenta (2012).

His current solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art features ten sculptures from recent years, ranging from large-scale, organic forms to the more recent Wall Reliefs. The exhibition includes loans from private collections as well as from the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Arts and Design.  Pich’s large-scale, site-adaptive installation, Compound, was recently on view in New York at the Brookfield Place Winter Garden (March 28 – April 18, 2013) as part of the Season of Cambodia festival. Originally conceived for the 2011 Singapore Biennale, where it was displayed in the rotunda of Singapore’s National Museum, it was subsequently featured in Pich’s solo exhibition at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle (2011-2012), and in the group show, Invisible Cities, at MASS MoCA (2012-2013). He is currently preparing for a solo exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (opening February 2014).

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Sopheap Pich →

ADDITIONAL INFO

Press Release

EXHIBITION REVIEWS

GENERAL PRESS

The Cambodia Daily Sopheap Pich

February, 2017


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The Phnom Penh Post, In the studio with Sopheap Pich

February, 2017


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Ackland Art Museum Press Release, Ackland Art Museum Reimagines – and Reinstalls – Galleries of Asian Art

December, 2016


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Art Asia Pacific, Animate Bodies of Work

March, 2016


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The New Yorker, Sopheap Pich

December, 2015


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Artinfo, Sopheap Pich’s “Structures” at Tyler Rollins Fine Art

November, 2015


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Art Basel Year 46

2015


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Art Loft, Why Southeast Asian Art Now?

December, 2014


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Indianapolis Museum of Art, A Contemporary Spring at the IMA

2014


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Bird, Sopheap Pich

2014


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Art Asia Pacific, No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia

2014


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Blouin Art Info, Rattan to Revolutionary: “Collection+ Sopheap Pich” at SCAF Sydney

October, 2013


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ABC Radio Australia, Cambodian sculptor draws on rural influences in Australian exhibition

October, 2013


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Dojima River Biennale 2013

July, 2013


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The Boston Globe, Showcasing a continent’s art at Smith College

May, 2013


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The New York Times, Cambodian Rattan: The Sculptures of Sopheap Pich

May, 2013


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Art in America, Woven into History

May, 2013


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Time Out New York, Ten sculpture exhibitions you should see

May, 2013


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Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cambodian Rattan: The sculptures of Sopheap Pich

May, 2013


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Orientations, Cambodian Rattan: Memory and Place in the Art of Sopheap Pich

May, 2013


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The Economist, Out of adversity

April, 2013


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The Wall Street Journal, Cambodian Art Rises From the Ashes

April, 2013


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The New York Times, Dancing Well Is the Best Revenge

April, 2013


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Gallery Guide, Cambodian Rattan: The Sculptures of Sopheap Pich

April, 2013


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Asian Art Newspaper, Sopheap Pich

April, 2013


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The New Yorker, Metropolitan Museum

March, 2013


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Blouin Art Info, Asia-NYC

March, 2013


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Smith College Museum of Art – New Acquisitions

February, 2013


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Sculpture Now, Handmade

2013


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Documenta (13) The Guidebook

June, 2012


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Art Asia Pacific, Where I Work

May, 2012


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Invisible Cities exhibition at Mass MOCA

April, 2012


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Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art, Of Trans(national) Subjects and Translation: The Art and Body Language of Sopheap Pich

2012


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The Seattle Times, Cambodian artist evokes tumult of his homeland

November, 2011


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The Stranger, A Weightless Series of Cages

November, 2011


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Compound at the Henry Art Gallery

November, 2011


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Meditation: Asian Art Biennial 2011 catalogue

November, 2011


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The Art Newspaper, The rebuilding of Cambodian art

October, 2011


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The Examiner, San Francisco, Modern ‘Buddha Presence’ at Asian Art Museum

September, 2011


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Sculpture, Sopheap Pich: Return to Cambodia

September, 2011


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Thailand Tatler, Woven Narrative

July, 2011


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Art Journal, Art without History? Southeast Asian Artists and Their Communities in the Face of Geography

July, 2011


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The Wall Street Journal – Icons, A River View Reshapes a Sculptor’s Work

April, 2011


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The Wall Street Journal – Scene Asia, A Dream Weaver Goes Global

April, 2011


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Artforum, Singapore Biennale 2011: Open House

April, 2011


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The New York Times, Definitions of Home at the Singapore Biennale

March, 2011


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The Wall Street Journal – Scene Asia, Open House at the Singapore Biennale

March, 2011


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Singapore Biennale 2011: Open House

March, 2011


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Treasures (Asian Art Museum of San Francisco magazine), Here/Not Here

January, 2011


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International Herald Tribune, Cambodian Art Emerges From Horrors of a Murderous Past

December, 2010


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Artforum, Best of 2010

December, 2010


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bob, Sopheap Pich

April, 2010


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Art News, Review of “The Pulse Within” at Tyler Rollins Fine Art

February, 2010


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Artforum, Sopheap Pich

February, 2010


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The Luxury channel, 8 Asian artists to watch

February, 2010


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Classic Contemporary: Contemporary Southeast Asian Art from the Singapore Art Museum Collection

January, 2010


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Art Asia Pacific, The Pulse Within

January, 2010


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Flash Art, Sopheap Pich

January, 2010


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Classic Contemporary Catalogue

January, 2010


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The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

December, 2009


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Truly Truthful exhibition (Miami)

December, 2009


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examiner.com, Sopheap Pich’s “The Pulse Within”

December, 2009


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Artforum.com, Sopheap Pich at Tyler Rollins Fine Art

December, 2009


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Dossier Journal, The Pulse Within – Sopheap Pich at Tyler Rollins

November, 2009


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The 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, Sopheap Pich

September, 2009


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Asia Art Archive, Interview with Sopheap Pich

April, 2009


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International Herald Tribune, A coming of age for Cambodian artists

March, 2009


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Sphere Asia, The New Weave

March, 2009


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C-Arts, Cambodian Art: Opening the Box

March, 2009


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Art Asia Pacific, Tidal, Sopheap Pich

March, 2008


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Strategies from Within

January, 2008


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Flash Art, Reviews: Sopheap Pich at the H Gallery in Bangkok

November, 2007


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World Sculpture News, Speaking To The Past And The Present

September, 2007


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Frieze, Sopheap Pich

September, 2007


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Real Time, New art, new Cambodia

April, 2006


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Art Asia Pacific, Sopheap Pich: Rotin/Pdow

March, 2005


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