Curatorial Rationale
Urban Environment reflects on the relationship between organisms in their natural habitats and the growth of cities around them. I have always been a naturalist but having grown up in an ever-expanding city. I have been constantly reflecting this contrast through my art.Throughout my two years in Visual Arts, by exploring a variety of media and feeling inspired by a number of artists, a familiar thread emerged; that is of my home, my heritage, and my origin: Cambodia. Most importantly, an epiphany occurred while exploring and analyzing Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte; the ideas of a “sense of memory” and “personal significance”emerged. These two themes reverberated and repeated themselves throughout the creation and planning for my exhibition. The AMNUA Nanjing and M50 Art District Beijing trips during my visual arts course was significant to me because this ultimately initiated further media-testing inspired by the works of artists which was crucial for the creation of my pieces. The idea of ‘hallucinations depicted from visual emanations’ analyzed and inspired from Luis Chan led to the exploration of abstract art, which consisted of testing oil and acrylic paints with palette knifes, and the juxtaposition of complementary colors(also inspired from Georges Seurat). The idea of ‘expressing modernism having a nostalgic effect’ analyzed and inspired from David Hepher led to the exploration of contemporary art, inspiring me to test spray-paints, the use of architectural materials like sand, concrete and newspapers. Exploring these themes further developed linkage between the environment and urbanization. This was a crucial turning point for my body of work because ultimately, I wanted to make art in the subject of the environment/urban development that would cause the audience to contemplate about this sensitive topic.These two trips altered my perspective of the arts and I really wanted to explore further on the environment/urban theme. I wanted to invite the audience into my space with a variety of urban materials and imagery. My intention was to create a path through my exhibit with the use of walls. The viewer would begin with the center of urban environment and walk through my memories of Cambodia. I envision the audience to walk through the depiction of urban environment and I hope to gain an emotional response of guilt and hope, as my intention is to convey the effects of urban-human activity on the environment.This will be achieved by Urban x Environment, that consists of sand, spray paint, and acrylic on wooden canvas that will ideally grab-hold of the viewer for the starting point of my exhibition. Gradually, the viewer will subconsciously transition into my memory lane of Cambodia that are the final stages of my thread. The viewer will reach a watercolor piece, Sunset in Phnom Penh, that is located between the wall of solely influenced urban environment projects and the wall of Cambodian-memory related pieces. Once the viewer has finished and turned away from the urban environment pieces, the viewer will walk through my memory from the inspiration of Cambodia; childhood experiences, the ‘developing’ cities from urban activity, and ultimately the depiction of the beautiful yet unsightly Phnom Penh. In this section, I would like the viewer to feel emotionally attached to Cambodia, this will be achieved by the sculpture Hopelessly Desperate. Gay Abandon will help fulfill the mixture of
emotions as the 4 different stages of photos of a Cambodian boy jumping into ‘freedom and happiness’ reminds the audience that a journey starts with a single step, or jump. The last piece, I hope to share a truly significant memory, Kampong Speu Harvest that depicts my home, individuals and the environment. While completing my final pieces I realized my cohesive thread. I have always been inspired to create art, which was important to me, but through planning the exhibit, I have realized that a theme emerged: the relationship between urban growth and the environment, my own emotional responses to this and my personal memories of Cambodia.
