So I've decided to stare at this piece that I bought while traveling to Southeast Asia in 2008. I purchased this painting in Battambang, Cambodia while visiing a local art school. At the school, I got to meet the children and teachers in the program. After a presentation we were allowed to look at the art and buy what we liked for a reasonable $20. I bought mine from a boy I had been talking to, Chan Pag Na. I bought the piece not because I was visually attracted to it, but because Chan had said it was his best work and I wanted something to remember him by.
This piece sits on the back of my bedroom door. Sometimes I stare at the piece and I'm reminded of Chan and my trip. Mst of the time I don't look into the techniques he used or what the painting is trying to say, so this is why I choose this piece.
The piece appears to be a group of six people riding on a boat. Three of the people are children, three are adult. In the background their are houses and docks but no sign of people in the houses. The water is a muddy brown. The men and children are wearing everyday clothing, hats, t-shirts, and pants. There is a woman on the front of the boat who is wearing a longer shirt, pants, and a headwrap. The boat and the people are the foreground, the houses are the background. The piece is a watercolor painting.
The piece uses earth tone colors: brown, green, white, grey, and dark yellow. Until now, I have never noticed the use of red throughout the piece. The focal point seems to be a red rectangle positioned in between a few of the houses and the dock. My eye moved from the rectangle to the young child on the boat (wearing red) and the red bag near him/her. From the child, my eye then moves to a house that has a light pink streak painting against the side panel. At first glance, the red does not stand out, but after staring at it for more than a few minutes, the red becomes very vibrant. I am curious to why Chan used the red, what is the symbolism the red has to the child and why do the three connecting reds form a triangle? Was this a technique the students learned in their art classroom?
What I really like about this piece is the direction. All of the people in the boat, along with the boat and the waves are all moving towards the right. None of the boat is cut off by the paper, but is positioned as far left as it can be. None of the people are making eye contact with the viewer, except maybe the child in red. The child in red seems to be staring at the viewer, but since the piece is watercolor, the lines are almost blurred and its hard to tell. The movement to the right makes me wonder, where are these people going? Who are they? My main focus while looking at this painting seems to be with the people, because they are the foreground. The background seems less imortant to me because it just seems like normal Cambodian scenery. I wonder if the background was painted on location and the meaning behind the location. There are only a number of houses and they all look very similar: shakey, grey, and desolate. Are the people in the boat leaving this area to find a better place? Maybe not. Maybe this is just how they live and I am making a subjective decision based on what I have seen and my own daily life.
There is a contrast between the quickness of the brush strokes on the water and the steady brush stroeks of the people. Chan's focus seemed to be geared on the people, and he paid attention to detail in each of the person's clothing and facial expression. But why? Why are they so important then the background? Is it because they are his people? Or?
Chan finished this piece on July 5, 2008 when my tour came to visit. His signature lays in the right hand corner of the painting. I analyzed this piece because just like any piece I would see at the Art Institute, I do not fully know this painter. Yes Chan and I have met, but I really do not know him, his story, and why he choose to paint this piece. I was just given the painting because it was his favorite and he was going to receive cash for it. I will never see Chan again and I will never get to ask him about the significance of this piece, just like Dali or Monet.
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