Vann-Nath
1946 (Battambang (Cambodge))
Living in : Phnom Penh (Cambodge)
Working in : Phnom Penh (Cambodge)
Artist's webSite
"His attachment to narrative realism comes from the Cambodian aesthetic taste which emphasizes a narrative and linear treatment, like the bas-reliefs surrounding the enclosures of Angkorian temples or the painted scenes from the life of Buddha which decorate many pagodas. Faced with Vann Nath's scenes of death and destruction, it is difficult to sustain the gaze, especially since the pictorial charge gives the images an excess of meaning and emotions.Saturated because of their raw and meticulous realism, his paintings seem hallucinated and evoke nightmarish visions.On the one hand, the “surreal” effect is a visual mode that highlights the ideological delirium of the Khmer Rouge, on the other hand it creates an overpresence of the murdered companions... "
Excerpt from the article by Soko Phay-Vakalis published in N°38 of Art Absolument: publication on October 30, 2010
Living in : Phnom Penh (Cambodge)
Working in : Phnom Penh (Cambodge)
Artist's webSite
"His attachment to narrative realism comes from the Cambodian aesthetic taste which emphasizes a narrative and linear treatment, like the bas-reliefs surrounding the enclosures of Angkorian temples or the painted scenes from the life of Buddha which decorate many pagodas. Faced with Vann Nath's scenes of death and destruction, it is difficult to sustain the gaze, especially since the pictorial charge gives the images an excess of meaning and emotions.Saturated because of their raw and meticulous realism, his paintings seem hallucinated and evoke nightmarish visions.On the one hand, the “surreal” effect is a visual mode that highlights the ideological delirium of the Khmer Rouge, on the other hand it creates an overpresence of the murdered companions... "
Excerpt from the article by Soko Phay-Vakalis published in N°38 of Art Absolument: publication on October 30, 2010