The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Seed Pods

2015

Sopheap Pich

(Cambodian, b. 1971)
Cambodia
Bamboo, rattan, steel wire
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 2016.37
© Sopheap Pich
Location: 242A Ancient India

Description

The work of Cambodian contemporary artist Sopheap Pich echoes the reverence for nature that pervades the earliest Buddhist art of India. Working in Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh, Pich and his team of artisans have created a monumental sculptural pair based on the form of a local variety of seed pod. The smaller pod turns toward the larger, which seems to offer reassurance and affection. The gridwork consists of hand-shaved bamboo and rattan, fired into undulating shapes and secured by steel wire made from recycled bombs and mines—remnants from the revolutions and civil wars in Cambodia throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The openwork quality of the sculptures recall the emptiness and hunger felt by those—including Pich—who suffered under the extremist Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979.
  • 2015
    Collection of the Artist, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
    2016
    (Tyler Rollins Fine Art Ltd., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2016–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie. ”Acquisition Highlights 2016: Indian and Southeast Asian Art." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 57, no. 2 (March/April 2017): 21. Reproduced: pp. 3, 21. Mentioned: pp. 7, 21 archive.org
  • {{cite web|title=Seed Pods|url=false|author=Sopheap Pich|year=2015|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.37