ART CITIES:Zurich-Andriu Deplazes

The paintings of Andriu Deplazes, who in 2017 won the Helvetia Art Prize at Liste, offer a sensual experience. The bright and at times even loud colours seem to be characteristic of our artificial-image-inundated present. But the protagonists of Andriu Deplazes’ paintings seem to come from a parallel world and are often entwined with reminiscences of art history.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Galerie Peter Kilchmann Archive

Entitled “Fluoresce”, Andriu Deplazes’ solo exhibition ties in with his recent solo show at Kunstmuseum Chur, Rote Augen, which was devoted to him as winner of the Manor Kunstpreis 2019. On show are a freshly created group of works of large and small-format oil paintings on canvas as well as a mixed group of works on paper (in mixed media). Deplazes’ paintings create a kind of parallel cosmos that questions the habitual ways of seeing and expectations of the beholder. Wide landscapes in colorfully powerful large format are the setting for curious characters who sometimes melt into the vegetation around them or appear strangely remote from it. With the exhibition Deplazes expands this cosmos: nature, which otherwise frequently appears in the form of lush forests and meadows but also flat, sparse moorland, becomes rockier and more mountainous and seems to shift human bodies and animals more intensely into the foreground than previously. The smaller formats in the exhibition show strong portraits or details of the larger works and lend them their own identity. The pale, melancholy-looking faces, whose balance is purposely brought out of kilter, contrast with their colorful background and a horizon that appears to glow in the depth of the perspective. The scenes that at first glance seem strange, on closer inspection open up many-layered levels of meaning and point to the artist’s deep cultural-historical knowledge which he transposes into a very contemporary visual language. Works such as “Hirsch und weisse Weite” display compositional structures which draw close reference to Symbolists such as Ferdinand Hodler and Giovanni Segantini. The first level of the picture opens the view on a stoney mountain landscape. The central axis, which is slightly shifted to the left, runs down a gentle gradient towards a horizon marked by flat hills. On the sides the land is evenly bordered by moraines and mountain promontories while a magnificent stag strides into the landscape from the right. Its strong presence arrests the sweeping gaze of the beholder who it appears to fix with an attentive eye. Parts which are usually white such as the mouth, the underbelly and the legs shine in deep pink color pigments and tell of moist warmth and vigour. The radiance causes a feeling that entices the beholder to touch the animal. The stag, abounding in strength and borrowed from Romanticism, raises questions about masculinity and gender dogma. Deplazes developed a special painting technique to achieve the fluorescence of his works mentioned in the exhibition title: before he creates a painting the canvas is first grounded with fluorinated pigments. The artist then works with various layers of paint which are overlaid or flow transparently into each other. Some of the subject matter may bring to mind the concept of “Bad Painting” established by the curator Marcia Tucker in 1978 with an exhibition at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York. With Deplazes however, the disassociations are rarely banal and amusing. On the contrary, here the artist is pursuing a very carefully conceived abstraction which breaks open cultural-historical stereotypes with almost tragic irony.

Info: Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zahnradstrasse 21, Zurich, Duration: 5/3-914/20, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat 11:00-17:00, www.peterkilchmann.com