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By
: Arnie Baker, Picture by : Chan Thul.
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Prach Bunnaruoh
is a sculptor who has spent half his life transforming
plain blocks of stone and wood into intricate carvings,
and is rightfully proud of his profession.
Bunnaruoh, now 26, spent ten years learning how
to carve in stone and wood. It's a painstaking craft:
"I need at least one week to work on one wooden
sculpture," he explained. Bunnaruoh makes carvings
to order, commissioned by both foreign and local
customers at his shop on Street 178 in Phnom Penh.
There are many different kinds of sculpture being
made in Cambodia today. Walking down Phnom Penh's
Street 178 past the art shops there, a wide array
of carvings in wood, stone and marble are on display.
There are three kinds of marble available: green
marble, wax marble and regular marble. These beautiful
materials don't come cheap. One kilogram of the
normal kind of marble costs between $2 and $3. The
green marble costs about $15 per kilogram and it
is this luminous stone that is most in demand.
Bunnaruoh supports his wife and young son and pays
rent on his shop by selling sculpture; just one
of his delicate wooden carvings can cost up to $100.
He has been working as a sculptor for four years
now, and says he finds it an honorable and interesting
job.
Cambodia has a long and celebrated tradition of
sculpture, especially those found in the country's
numerous ruined temples, and of course, at the world-famous
Angkor complex in Siem Reap. |
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Bunnaruoh working on a
wooden
statue of the Buddha at his shop .
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A statue of the Buddha
carved from a single piece of marble.
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Now it seems sculpture
is coming back into fashion. Just look at the Royal
University of Fine Arts - talented young art students
are queuing up to enroll in the sculpture classes
there.
Bunnaruoh also teaches sculpture to four young students,
whom he describes as hardworking and eager to learn
the many skills of the trade. He does not charge
them any money for the lessons, even though they
can be pretty hard work. He says he just wants to
make sure that the skills he has learned are passed
on to other Cambodians, so that people around the
world can continue to recognize Khmer sculpture
as the uniquely beautiful art form it is. His is
indeed a fine example of the true Cambodian Spirit.
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Two of Bunnaruoh’s
students working together on a relief with
only a
picture on a small piece of paper for reference.
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Suite
B8, Regency Square, InterContinental Hotel, 294 Mao
Tse Toung Boulevard,
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.
Tel: (855) 23 213 133 Fax: (855) 23 213
033
E-mail:
editor@leisurecambodia.com |
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