Samith Pich.com » Samith Pich

HEART + HOPE CAMBODIA Exhibition

Samith — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:10:22 +0000

Hello everybody! Its been a while but there’s a new exhibition on the horizon. It’s always wondrous how life works and how lives intersect. Almost a year ago I was introduced to the wondrous Alley Michelle of AlleyWho fame. She shared with me her grand idea of committing to an exhibition with a difference and one that was close to my heart. Alley Michelle, an accomplished artist, and entrepreneur accomplished the unenviable task of coordinating a group of seriously talented artists from Gotham Studios and myself to create work on the theme of Heart + Hope Cambodia. We were to create a exhibition of contemporary art responding to the contemporary issues of my home country – which are many but ever the optimist I also see the possibilities. As a Cambodia artist it was an honour to be involved and to have the wonderful feedback from Artists such as Michael Doherty and Jan Altmann. And while I didn’t produce any ‘new’ work per se the exhibition forced me to lift my game to a new level.

My painting is a response to the title of the Exhibition – Heart + Hope. The painting occupies a psychological space in which the heart and hope and inextriciably linked, one cannot be without the other. We cannot hope without using our hearts and at the core of our hearts is an innate wellspring of hope. The abstracted figure of man symbolises our shared humanity, the sky is a metaphor for an unlimited and open potential, and the sea also provides a link back to our shared ancestry or the ‘ocean of humanity’. It is only through using our hearts and being open to hope can we ‘rise above’ the currents of oppression and injustice. Above the waves is the light of a new day.

Please share this page with your friends and schedule this exhibition into your diaries. 50 Percent of all proceeds go to assisting Cambodian causes. See you there!!

The details once again are:

HEART & HOPE CAMBODIA

Opening: Thursday 6 May at 6pm

Exhibition from: 1 June – 5 August 2012

Where: Access Gallery, John Curtin Gallery Building 200.

Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley Wa 6012

October: Seasons Exhibition @ The Moores Contemporary Art Building

Samith — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:18:24 +0000

October has been a busy month for painting, which is probably why it’s taken till the end of October to finally create a post about it! (That, and my propensity for procrastination…)

Late last month I was involved in the wonderful group exhibition ‘Expressions’ at the Old Bakery, Maylands. This month I was involved in a group exhibition with Interactive Arts headed by the wonderful Fleur Allen, called Seasons at the wonderfully charming Moores Contemporary Art Building.

A little less than a year ago, Fleur canvassed her Interactive Arts members for a theme for an exhibition at the said building. And yours truely, actually thought of the idea as I was thinking about the ‘seasons’ of our lives, and of nature. Fleur loved the idea and the rest is history!

Most of the paintings were completed in the October holidays just two weeks before the holidays. But even with such little time I was really happy with the results and I hope you are too. Here’s the paintings. AND I’m pleased to say two sold just a day or two before opening night. Yay!

I must also say, the paintings were hugely influenced by a painting workshop held by the amazing Malini Parker. Her grace, wisdom and knowledge of how to bring out our inner artists would be hard to beat. She supported me in my conscious effort to experiment with more abstract techniques and to consider the amount of ‘emotional intensity’ I could place on the canvas.

Overall my concept for the Seasons artworks was not to just create pretty pictures of flowers for Spring and Snowy landscape for winter but to deeper explore the connotations and feelings we experience in these seasons. I wanted to communicate the seasons we have for our minds, and the seasons for our lives. So yes the paintings are a shift away from my ‘usual’ style but I hope they still evoke the feelings that my paintings usually evoke.

'Incalescence', 2011. Mixed Media on canvas. 91.5 x 91.5cm. $1100 - Summer

‘Provenance’, 2011. Mixed Media on canvas. 91.5 x 91.5cm. $1100 – Autumn SOLD

'Whitewash', 2011. Mixed Media on canvas. 91.5 x 91.5cm. $1100 - Winter

‘Solace', 2011. Mixed Media on canvas. 91.5 x 91.5cm. $1100 - Spring SOLD

Welcome 2011

Samith — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:49:01 +0000

Wow, 2011. Is it just me or does 2011 sound really sci-fi in a really Stanley Kubrick kind of way. Yet here I am with out a teleporter or flying car in sight…

How are you and how have you been? Did 2010 treat you well? It was certainly a big year for many people I’ve known and it was certainly a huge year for me, professionally and personally. I had two solo art shows in 2010, including my first ‘The Mango Tree’. I set a personal record for how much I sold and how much I sold it for. But it was the evolution in painting that surprised me. I guess surprises are expected when you push yourself into a corner and make yourself go for it.

In Oct 2010 I married the love of my life and my soul mate, Iris. For someone who paints almost exclusively about love it’s not hard to stay a romantic espeically with someone like Iris. Yet both of these huge events sit side by side with what I did only a few months later.

In Jan 2011 I fulfilled a life long desire to be reunited with my long lost family in Cambodia and return to the country of my birth from which I fled from. There are too many reasons to say about why it had taken to almost my 32nd birthday to do so. I guess the simplest reason was it was not meant to happen until then. However, neither rain or hail (not that there was much of either in a Perth summer) stopped me from doing so in Jan.

: Angkor Wat at Sunrise

To say that the visit changed me and my perception of the world is an understatement. I am still reeling with what I saw and felt and tasted and everything afterwards. I am not sure how to describe it, this feeling I have inside me. But I guess the word would have to be ‘mission’. I feel like a have a real mission now or a cause I can wear on my sleeve and be passionate about. That passion is helping my family and the many children in Cambodia to gain access to quality education. Being a teacher and a life long learner I know first hand the benefits of receiving a great education, something Australian see as a birth right but for many people across the world is an expensive and unobtainable privilege.

: My mum and her grand daughter Sopetra

In my travels I saw the joy of ordinary children travelling to school to learn and I was effected by the immense poverty of those who couldn’t afford to go. I realised if they didn’t go then the perpetual cycle of poverty would only continue. It had to start with giving them a chance to get an education. I also met an american man by the name of David J Biviano who was also affected by their plight and who sold his apartment in Florida and all his possession to start an orphange to help every kid he could get a great education. He demonstrated for me what you could do and the real change you could create when you had a mission.

: The family back in Cambodia

David helped me realise that ‘the future does not lie in the hands of children. The future rests in the hands that holds the hands of children’.

You can go and join his Facebook page here.

Obviously not everyone can can sell their house and live in Cambodia (it’s a nice thought though). I realised the best way I can help his cause and my cause to help my family back in Cambodia is by painting.

So I’m now making a commitment to give 10 percent of the proceeds of any sale to the Cambodian Children’s House of Peace with the plan of directly sponsoring either a child or the worthwhile work they do there and a further 10 percent to help my family with basic needs. I hope to raise $1000 during the course of this year. $1000 can make an immense difference to many kids because every cent goes directly to them.

It’s my way of giving back and it’s my way of increasing the prosperity for all.

I plan to keep you updated and be transparent in my mission, and I definitely plan to get more people on board and interested. If you’d like to learn more about David’s amazing work click here. If you know some one who would like my work or what I plan to do then I invite you to tell others and get them to join and become a ‘Special Samith Subscriber’ by subscribing here or going to the SUBSCRIBE page.

I haven’t created an art work in months, and as usual I have big plans for 2011. But you know what, it’s going to be fine, in fact I think 2011 is going to be fantastic.

: Hello 2011!

Got some plans for 2011? Share them below.

Drawings 2010

Samith — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 07:31:04 +0000

Drawing 1

Kulcha Drawing Draft

Introducing Mr & Mrs Pich

Samith — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 15:11:21 +0000

On Sunday 3rd October, I fulfilled a long held dream and that was to marry the love of my life, Iris Pleyer. From the moment I saw her I knew straight away she was the one. It’s been an amazing two years (almost) but the wedding would have to be a highlight of my life. The day was perfect, the venue and ceremony was unforgettable and everything surpassed my expectations. And the bride? Stunning. Here’s some shots…

‘The Flight of Icarus’ June, 2010

Samith — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 14:04:54 +0000

In June of 2010 I had my second solo exhibition called ‘The Flight of Icarus’ at Ellis House Community Arts Centre in Bayswater. It was a the fulfilment of a dream to have an art exhibition there when I was 16. ‘The Flight of Icarus was an exhibition about having the courage to ‘fly’ and to follow one’s dreams despite the costs. It did very very as well.

The Mango Tree. Feb 2010.

Samith — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 06:27:13 +0000

In February 2010. I had my first solo exhibition at Kulcha, Fremantle. The exhibition ‘The Mango Tree’ was based on a song by Angus & Julia Stone under the same name. It combine my free favourite things: ‘Sun, Love & mangoes’. I would have to say it was mildly successful and I had some great exposure and feedback. It lead to Gallery 281 having some of my later stuff to sell. Things were looking bright.

2009 – 2010 Artworks

Samith — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 06:00:07 +0000

In 2009 I started working fulltime as an Art Teacher at Cyril Jackson Senior Campus in Bassendean. I started entering into some group shows and made more of an effort to continue my work.

No crap & Personal Leadership

Samith — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:20:39 +0000

At the place I work which is the Swan Youth Program in Cyril Jackson where I work as a classroom teacher for disengaged, disadvantaged youth we have a ‘No Crap’ Policy. Rather than a punitive policy it actually a program that rewards positive behaviour under the idea that students won’t start crap as long as no one starts crap with them. It’s a tentative truce of sorts that doesn’t always work but still reinforces good behaviour.

I only bring up the subject because I wish I had the same policy in some areas of my life, and how ironic it seems that the virtues we try to instill in our youth we still battle with in our adult life. It certainly is easy to blame others but the central premise of the ‘No Crap’ philosophy is simply one of personal leadership. I truely believe that the hardest thing to lead is yourself but t’s also the most important and rewarding.

Personal leadership is not only giving yourself goals and following through it’s giving yourself permission to be visionary and to envision something that many people will find hard to see. Personal leadership is about building a sense of character and certainty in a sometimes uncertain world. I forget who said the quote but it was marvelous person who said

‘Character is doing something long after the motivation is gone’

I’ve noticed in myself that I go through spurts of being motivated and not, and then character rears its head and proves to me the mettle I am made off. Sometimes I am found wanting and sometime I inspire myself.

It seems that you can only ever control somebody superficially for a short period of time, but you can inspire people for much longer. And you can do that by first being a leader to yourself.

Vision Board

Samith — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:46:56 +0000

I spent last night and tonight creating a vision board by going through Google and saving the exact images I wanted to focus on and putting them into a file. I got pictures of places I wanted to travel to, the pictures of the exact cars I wanted to drive and the gadgets I wanted to own and I got pictures of our happy family and the love me and Iris share. I then imported them into iPhoto and created a vision screen saver that would come up instantly whenever I needed to be inspired.

I think the vision process works because it keeps in your mind the things that will inspire you to be and do the things you need to do to get what you want. All the things I want seem so close yet so far. I know I just have to continue to take it one step at a time.