Description: Buddha seated on curved platform, proper left hand in lap palm up and proper right hand palm forward with elbow bent
Label Text: Sopheap Pich, a 1995 graduate of the University of Massachusetts, is considered to be the foremost contemporary artist in Cambodia. Pich’s signature medium is woven rattan, which he uses to create three-dimensional biomorphic and architectural sculptures.
This large-scale, seated Buddha is shown with its hand raised in the abhaya mudra, a gesture of protection. Raised in a Buddhist family, Pich has said that Buddhism accords with his ideas about daily life and with his respect for nature, but that for him, “My studio is my temple, and when I travel my sketchbook and my laptop are my portable temples.” One writer has suggested that the open rather than solid form of the rattan figure reflects Buddhist teachings that posit the invisible presence of Buddha.
Tags: religion; Buddhism Subjects: Religion; Buddhism Link to share this object record: https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+2013.3 |