Upcoming Kampot Art Exhibit: Morphing the Street Off Road to On Wall

An art exhibit with a difference is coming to the Hotel Old Cinema in Kampot. Which is appropriate for a venue that was once a movie house. And that exhibit is “Street Knowledge: The Kingdom of Hustles Pt. One” which features the work of Markus Dixon. 

Dixon hails from Darwin, Australia but has been based in Kampot for several years now, biding his time until the “near-normal” arrived to make art shows viable once more. 

Says Markus, “This has been two and a half years in the making. I was in Phnom Penh, sitting on the Riverside a few years ago, having just been mugged and mentally licking my wounds.  At the time I was trying to come up with a good, strong concept for an art show.  I was staring at the pavement when that concept hit me: the tiles.  Every hustle in this country is done on top of these tiles – the good, the bad and the ugly.” 

The geometry of the street played right into the gallery

The simplicity of the idea is what sparked Markus’ “aha” moment, seeing in it the potential for making distinctive art.  

Markus explains, “It’s geometry at the end of the day. It’s not introverted musings from my mind or hard to understand.  It appeals to the primal brain with shapes and colours through designs that are quite literally right off the streets of the kingdom of hustles.”  

While Markus’ background is street art, that is not the sole element in the show.  

“I’ve been a silk-screener and sign writer and this [show] brings in elements from that history [as well].  It uses all the different skills I’ve acquired over the years.”

“It’s a sort of semi-installation artwork as well. The majority of these pieces are three dimensional with the design coming out from the board.  It’s a lot of work [and takes] a lot of math actually. There’s irony and juxtapositions playing on words, off the wall, the ground and the street right into the gallery.  It’s a nice melting pot of different creative mediums and with a musical element involved as well. It’s not your everyday art show.”  

He’s definitely excited and delighted to be getting back into an active artistic life, saying,  “I’ve spent my life doing exhibitions, organising festivals and helping run music venues, doing murals, painting – always ten different things at once.  For the last two years I’ve been doing nothing but my graphic design. It’s nice to be working with other humans again. I realise [now] just how much I’ve missed that.  

The response to the pieces has been strong and immediate.  “I’ve already put the tile design out there. It’s on the label for Citra Pale Ale, Riel Brewing’s flagship beer.  And there are plans in the works to tile the whole of Palace Lane, the re-envisioned Street 240½, turning my tile designs into actual tiles.  International clients of mine have seen some of the work and they absolutely adore them. They have no idea it’s Cambodian street tile until I tell them.”   

Three dimensional exhibit adds a fourth: sound

The opening will also include a live performance of a new music project: The Kingdom of Hustles Mixtape.  

Markus shared that he’d had an idea a few years back that he shared with music producer Rob O’Hara to bring to life.  That idea was to take golden era Khmer songs and graft those original song structures under new beats, samples, cuts and vocals.

Players involved in the project include Chiet Ukham of the Kampot Playboys, rapper Ramsey Judson and singer Sidavine Sun.  

Street Knowledge:The Kingdom of Hustles, Part One opens at Hotel Old Cinema in Kampot on Saturday, April 9^th at 6pm.  The Kingdom of Hustles mixtape will be performed and available for sale that night. Click here for the event page.

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