Untitled

b. 1971, Cambodia; based in Phnom Penh

Untitled is an organic-form, biomorphic sculpture that shows Sopheap Pich’s continued engagement with structures found in nature, such as plants. The work is inspired from the seed pod of the Beng tree (Afzelia xylocarpa), which grows throughout Cambodia but is now considered to be endangered due to excessive logging. Pich gathered seed pods from trees growing near his studio, offering them as a symbol of both the resiliency and the fragility of the Cambodian ecosystem. The sculpture, which resembles a pair of lungs, also recalls his early body of work, where sculptural forms were derived from the internal organs of the human body, such as the heart, lungs, and intestines. With this work, this artist explores the fluidity of line and the free expansion of volume, all delimited by the basic forms of natural structures.