Photo Studies Cambodian Shade, Acrylic On Canvas
I arrived in Cambodia on June 1st 2004. Two days earlier I was in Bangkok, Thailand making plane reservations to fly and live in the Philippines. But my finances were low and it was much cheaper to take a bus to the southern beaches of Sihanoukville (Kom Pong Som), Cambodia. I didn't take into account that this was the advent of the rainy season. I'm talking rain in the most superlative sense. I hadn't been able to paint for 3 months and stuck in a $2 a night guest house I still couldn't. So I sat under the eve of an open-air restaurant and made sketches and drawings of this small sundries store across the street.
Everything was dull and dreary. There was never any sun which meant no light, contrast or shadows. I lived in Cambodia for 19 months and in my memory it will always be hues of brown and gray even when the sun did shine. Over time the umbrellas grew. The market got taller and a lot wider. This with the idea that I would incorporate certain things and people at a later date to make a conglomeration of Khmer life. These canopied sugarcane carts are found throughout Cambodia. The sugarcane stalk is placed in a slot and the juice is pressed out by a hand turned wheel. Like many drinks it is served in a small plastic bag with a bit of ice and a straw. Beware the ice!
Two months later I moved north to the capital Phnom Penh where I had four months to put the painting together, take photos and people watch. A bit of a misnomer because there is nowhere and foreigner can go in Cambodia that the locals are not only watching you but gawking at you. The history and poverty of this country is well documented and it is a sad story. As a result, though the quality of education is very low, they are kind people and very in touch with their Buddhist religion. So that is why I included a monk in the painting.
I called the painting 'Cambodian Shade' because Asian people avoid the sun at all costs. Dark skin is a sign of low class meaning you work in the rice fields. It's comical the lengths women will go to stay in the shade. On a sunny day they will drive a motorbike with one hand holding an umbrella and a baby in the other! December 18th 2004, flat broke, I signed a one year contract to teach english in a small village further north on the Mekong river called Kom Pong Cham. I spent Christmas day teaching english to Muslim high school kids. I made only one small oil painting that year called 'Phasat Tammai.' The central market in Phnom Penh. A year later I spent Christmas eve and all of Christmas day 2005 on three motorbike taxis (motodops) , two regular taxis (one being 6 hours on a really bad road) and two long bus rides. I arrived in Bangkok at 10 p.m.. Getting out of Cambodia was my Christmas present to myself.