Em Riem was born in 1977 in a village in Cambodia. He obtained his National Diploma at the Royal School of Fine Arts before moving to France for seven years, where he studied first in the School of Fine Arts in Saint Etienne and then at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, better known as “Arts Decos”. He won the Certificate of Specialized Studies (Post-Diploma) in design.
Riem returned to Cambodia in 2007 and opened the X-EM design gallery in Phnom Penh, which exhibits Riem’s own works and also those of young Khmer and foreign designers and contemporary artists. His work as a designer and painter has quickly become respected, and he has participated in international art events in France, the United States and Italy. His art works are now in collections around the world.
Deeply attached to the Khmer culture, Riem respects its formal artistic qualities but is also open to other worldly influences; he is essentially eclectic, without prejudice or conformity. His creative freedom is open to the field of abstraction, expressionism and even the lyrical, as in his most accurate figurative representations. His paintings and sculptures are usually large-format and often incorporate unusual materials. Riem demonstrates a sound mastery and audacity even when based on the topic of Cambodia’s tragedy during the time of the Khmer Rouge period.
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