Andriu Deplazes

Deplazes was born in 1993 in Zurich, and currently lives and works between Paris, Marseille, and Zurich. His approach, shaped by a philosophical and anthropological perspective, explores themes of identity and the dynamics of power within social and familial structures. Often set against idealized, romantically lush landscapes, Deplazes’s figures—isolated, diaphanous, and androgynous—inhabit scenes that oscillate between the idyllic and the unsettling. These ethereal subjects challenge conventions of voyeurism and narcissism, reflecting the artist’s contemplation on human vulnerability and the physicality of the body.

Deplazes’s work embodies a rejection of perfection, reserving his precise technique for depictions of nature and animal life, while his human figures resist such treatment. Through overpainting and abstraction, Deplazes captures humans as subjects rather than objects, allowing them to respond to viewers and resist any singular interpretation. His characters evoke both melancholy and ambiguity, suspended between presence and evanescence. The emotional landscapes, with their fleshy plants and sensual forms, evoke both the lushness of paradise and its fleeting, alienating aspects.

Color is central to Deplazes’s practice, used to express emotional tension. His palette is often vibrant and contrasting, with hues that underscore his figures’ vulnerability and heighten the sense of psychological complexity in his work. Saturated greens, haunting blues, and flashes of fluorescent tones convey both allure and discomfort within his dreamlike environments, subtly shifting between beauty and unease. Deplazes draws inspiration from the styles of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century painters—Ferdinand Hodler, Pierre Bonnard, Nancy Spero—while reinterpreting these influences in a uniquely contemporary way.

Deplazes’s artistic versatility extends across diverse media, including painting, monotypes, and works on paper, as well as recent explorations in bronze and ceramic sculpture. He also works on glass, adding a translucent dimension that heightens the dreamlike quality of his art.

Since 2015, Deplazes has exhibited widely across Europe. Recent presentations include projects at Sion Valais Art Museum and Unlimited Basel, with an upcoming solo exhibition scheduled for December at Kunsthaus Grenchen. Previous solo exhibitions include Plaines en jachèreat Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Paris (2023), Burning Green at Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia (2023), Künstlerhaus S11, Solothurn (2020), Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur (2020), and Kunstverein Friedrichshafen (2018). His work has also been featured in major group exhibitions, including Apropos Hodler at Kunsthaus Zürich (2024), Perspectives: La Collection d’art Helvetia, Musée Pully (2020); Werkschau, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2020); and The Land of the Sun, Center for Contemporary Art Futura, Prague (2020).