khmer sources

The world of hand-painted Cambodian "shop signs" is a colorful, playful place. Seen all over the Kingdom, from the most remote rural village to the busiest streets of Phnom Penh, these vibrant, miniature billboards advertise the goods and services available in concrete shop-houses and traditional wooden shelters alike.

They are, in the words of New Zealand photographer and author Robert Joiner, "quintessentially Cambodia." Joiner writes in his recently published book Did you see this one? Sign Art in Cambodian Life that the signs are "often humorous, always charming, and sometimes quite crude in their execution …"But, as odd as it may sound, these same shop signs are now being celebrated in the art centers of the Western world.

In the northeastern United States, Joel Montague has a collection of more than 60 original shop signs that he keeps on a rural Massachusetts farm.

"I collected shop signs in Cambodia from 1991 to 2000," says Montague. "There was no interest in them at the time so I bought them all over Cambodia for the price it would cost for the owner to buy a brand new, less weather-beaten, more up-to-date sign and brought them back to the US."
Montague even held an exhibition of the signs at the Boston Center for the Arts—with a brochure funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation.

In Berlin, German photographer Arjay Stevens, has held three exhibits on Cambodian signs. According to Stevens, visual artists in the capital were fascinated with the subject.

"I was worried to show it. I was concerned that people wouldn’t appreciate it—but the reception was fantastic," says Stevens, who has collected thousands of images of the signs since 1996. "They said, ‘These are so unique—you must show this.’ They went crazy about it. The surrealists from the universities were very excited because the art is so basic—not primitive, but basic."
Erwan Chevalier, former owner of a Phnom Penh collectibles store, sold reproductions of the signs for $25 to $35 apiece.

"They are popular because they have a certain retro charm; similar to the 1950s retro kitsch work in the West. We use them on bags and also sell them as artwork," Chevalier says. "The artist takes photos [of the signs] in the countryside and reproduces them. They are quite a different product than what else is sold in Cambodia."
The signs depict a stunning range of subject matter—from long-lashed beauty queens, and ultra-pearly dental work to motorbike repair facilities and frolicking farmyard animals.

"These signs are very much a part of Cambodian culture," says Stevens. "This is advertising. Billboards must reach everyone, so they can’t be too sophisticated—and mostly they’re not. These signs show serious things in a charming way. They show where you can take care of your everyday needs: tools, haircuts, places to repair or wash your motorbike—things like this."

Stevens has as much respect for the compositions as effective advertising as he does for their artistic merit. "Psychologically they are very effective," he says. "The position of products and names is correct. A modern designer couldn’t do any better. Sometimes they have calligraphy in several different languages. You can see Khmer, Vietnamese, Chinese, English and French."
According to Robert Joiner, the sign-painting style (known as chook tip in Khmer) may soon be a thing of the past.

"Slowly, but surely, the clinical realism of the digital age is creeping," Joiner writes. "The hand-painted sign is on the out."
He believes that as Cambodia continues to embrace the digital age and becomes further influenced by Western advertising models, the shop signs will fade into memory. In his book, Joiner says he has "attempted to depict a representative range of this naïve art form in order to record, for posterity, something which may not be around for much longer."
Stevens, whose photography exhibit Billboards: Another Image of Cambodia was shown in last year at the FCC in Phnom Penh, says that now is the time to start preservation efforts.

"Only in the old parts of Phnom Penh and in the country are they still used. You can see the day when they’ll be gone because the material and methods are changing so fast," Stevens says. "Now it’s computer images, painting with air brush techniques and interpretations of Western

images and logos."

"An art historian should write about it and analyze it before it’s gone," he adds.
Cambodian painter Svay Ken, 73, says that although he has known many painters who have started their careers by painting advertising signs, the form should not be considered art because it is done for payment and the composition is dictated by the customer.
Sok Savath, who owns Hang Mea Sign Shop in Kompong Cham, began hand-painting signs as a young man and continues to this day. He was 4 taught the skill by his father, and he in turn has taught it to his son. But he readily admits to modernizing his operation in the face of evolving customer demands and business efficiency.

"I plan to change from drawing by hand to using machine printing," Savath says. "The new methods are faster and look more modernized. This is recognized by the public."