Sopheap Pich

Sopheap Pich (b. 1971, Battambang, Cambodia) is one of the most celebrated contemporary artists in Southeast Asia. Pich is known for creating timeless, minimalist sculptures and wall reliefs using regionally ubiquitous materials such as bamboo, rattan, and aluminium. "Materials hold infinite possibilities," Pich says, placing absolute trust in the power of materiality to convey social and political histories, collective traumas, or personal memories that Cambodians experienced during the radical era under the Khmer Rouge. Through his painstaking and labor-intensive process, Pich’s artistic practice serves as a fundamental act of connecting the past, present, and future.

Pich and his family fled the country when he was eight years old. He pursued his academic career in art, studying painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. Although his student years led him to contemplate his background, Pich’s works refrain from overtly discussing autobiography and political issues. His reliance on materials speaks for itself, evoking time, space, and memories. His confidence in the forms and shapes of his sculptures gave him the autonomy to manifest his unique visual expressions. Through the manipulation of materials with his own hands, he revitalises abundant materials by infusing them with a second life. Pich brings awareness to the democratisation of art through the use of ordinary, rustic materials. His artistic approach can be associated with post-war Arte Povera in Italy or the Japanese Mingei movement advocated by Sōetsu Yanagi, which expressed beauty arising from society and the lives of common people. Pich dedicates time and effort to his collection activities. Around his studio or near the Mekong River, he equally divides the harvested bamboo and rattan, meticulously washing and boiling them. As a result, the materials become more pliable, expanding the ability of free manipulations. Pich weaves and creates grid-like structures reminiscent of a net by repeatedly crossing the rattan using wire. This repetitive and meditative process eventually reveals sculptures where a sense of volume and transparency gently coexist.