Visual Arts Open
Linda Saphan
Contemporary Cambodian artists have been concealed for a long time. Visual Arts Open in December 2005 will be the occasion for these artists to face the public nationally and internationally. VAO is an attempt to strengthen artistic production and provide a more dynamic contemporary art scene in a country known only for its traditional aspects. When people refer to arts in Cambodia it generally means performance arts. The world of visual art is yet to be recognized in the Cambodian concept. The translation of the term does not exist. We took the word chakok, which means eye. Alluding to staring to define a visual. The word samai refers to now or the present.
We use the title Visual Arts Open to demonstrate our specific intention: to showcase professional artists and their work. VAO’s purpose from the very beginning was to create a necessary relationship between artists of different dimensions, with a variety of exhibition space, all working towards presenting the public with the most creative minds working in Cambodia’s visual arts field today.
The team of Saklapel (slang for the word selapak) embarked on an artist search, an adventure that left us exhausted and inspired, to say the very least. We searched, traveled and met 20 visual artists of different generations to discuss their work and aspirations. Our idea was not to approach every artist with a fixed theme, something many organizations are accustomed to. Each artist was of a different background: some are self-taught, some studied at Fine Arts School, and some had spent years in countries like Poland, Hungary, Russia, Vietnam and France. The only focus we had was that all the artists worked in the context of the present.
This proposal was received with great enthusiasm from the artists. We approached them as artists ourselves and not NGO workers or of a private organization. The relationship we established with these artists is based on the fact that we all live for art, beyond any political, religious or institutional affiliations.
VAO will feature 20 Cambodian artists who work and live in Cambodia. The artists represented by VAO will illustrate that fact Cambodian art should now be considered contemporary art and not simply as a nationalistic endeavor or as representing ideas of exoticism. Saklapel, through its website and future curatorial efforts seeks to exhibit the most prominent Cambodian artists both in, and outside of Cambodia. We also hope to create a sense of art community amongst the visual artists.
