Represented by Java Arts
Sokuntevy Oeur
Cambodia
1983
Sokuntevy OEUR (Tevy) is a female painter from Cambodia who is boldly leading the charge of the country’s emerging women’s art movement. Tevy is certainly not afraid to speak her mind or ask questions. At the forefront of her practice is an impassioned personal search to determine where, as an independent woman and artist, she can identify herself within contemporary Cambodian society. Her gender and professional status as an artist, coupled with her unrelentingly honest approach to her subject matter, are a rare and precious combination.
Her paintings openly tell the story of the conflicts women of this generation face, whether emotional, familial, social or financial, in trying to be themselves, in a place where restrictive conventions and values have long-existed and mapped out the path for women. Contrary to the Ch’bab Srey which advocated modesty, compliance, and the domestic sphere as a woman’s place of work, Tevy advocates self-expression and individuality. The subjects that she paints and the questions she raises through them, are testaments to her having found her voice and a personal freedom. Her body of work which is inscribed with her life. Show that as an artist, Tevy certainly knows who she is.
Tevy was born in the countryside and she studied at Phare Ponleu Selpak in Battambang where she developed her oil and watercolour painting and pencil skills. Whilst she is now focused on her painting, she previously worked with other mediums. For her second solo show ‘Something in the Signs’ at Java café and gallery in 2007, she produced elaborate sculptural works made from rattan, bamboo, coffee, paint, and homemade paper. This body of work discussed the significant role of horoscopes and prevalence of superstitious beliefs Khmer culture. Her meticulous attention to detail in these pieces shows her processes have been influenced by traditional Cambodian art, such as the intricacies of the weaving craft and Khmer painting.
Accordingly, her refined and highly individual painting style combines a modern approach with elements found in Cambodian art. Mostly acrylic on paper, the overall tone and rendering of her paintings speak of folk art. Her clearly defined shapes and the strong colours show her awareness and appreciation of her homeland’s history of art. In terms of her style, a surrealist dimension has become increasingly apparent and exaggerated. In works such ‘L’amour a mort’, she is symbolically representing herself at the end of a relationship. She is depicted mounting her lover, wielding a machete ready to slay him with. Wide-eyed, with sharp cheekbones and exposed, sinewy limbs, she is a vision of dominant power rather than conventional, refined beauty.
Her choice of subjects and her unforgivingly personal approach to issues she sees to be perceived as being the cornerstones of ‘female identity’, family and sexuality, make her a tour de force. In her series ‘Family Ties’, her sense of confusion as to being both a dutiful daughter and making her own choices, is clearly apparent through her playing with the image plane. Once again depicting herself, she literally moves between the foreground and background of the paintings, as she struggles to resolve the expectation on her to have a strictly familial role, with her own ambition. This indecision often leaves her in a weak position within the frame, literally as though she is displaced and alienated.
Her latests works are resoundingly candid portrayals of her intimate relationships. At points showing tenderness, and at others, contempt, they show all sides of love, including what happens when it is no more. Displaying her willingness to discuss her sexuality, her latest works are tales told from her experience in her previous and current relationship. Whilst she is seen in the paintings embracing, being playfully suggestive, and being passionate, the face of her ex-lover has been crossed out. This motif confirms that the relationship in firmly in the past and could not imply finality any more strongly. Equally, it a a poignant comment on competing power balances within and in the aftermath of intimate relationships. Her current partner is sympathetically portrayed. His features are painted more delicately, and their bodies
Tevy's open and frank portraits on one level, push the boundaries of a conventional form of art practice to new limits with her unconventional and at times risque subject matter. On another, whilst highly autobigoraphical in content, Tevy is asking more broadly what is Cambodia today, and what does it mean to be Cambodian? She cannot be alone in asking the questions, which are syptomatic of a greater struggle within the country of reconciling change and modernity with tradition. As such, she is firmly holding a mirror in front of contemporary society. In this, Tevy and her subjects are true spirits of the age.
(text by Natalie Pace, independent curator)
