Andriu Deplazes: Unlimited Booth #U49

Deplazes’ position as a painter engaging with societal issues is especially evident in this work. For him, painting is not only a means of artistic expression but also a way to comment on current developments and create new visual approaches to complex themes.

In an era when art increasingly distances itself from engagement with current societal issues, there is an even greater need for artists who counteract this trend with their work. Andriu Deplazes is such an artist, utilising the means of art to vividly depict his view of the world and provoke thoughts on worldly topics.

With powerful imagery and sensitivity, he guides us to the nerve centres of our time. In doing so, he consistently finds the narrow line between thematic concreteness and open accessibility. Deplazes’ paintings rarely offer answers; instead, they hold immense potential for new approaches to societal themes. Military music and flowers, frantic flight and passive endurance— all set against the imposing backdrop of the Swiss mountains.

After a blow to the stomach, there is always a warm moment filled with strength, power, and beauty. Tense, simultaneous layers intertwine into a multilayered visual world that, full of both cruelty and beauty, sketches the paradoxes of 21st-century life from the perspective of Europe's privileged population.

Critical Perspectives