In Deplazes’ work, he creates an alternate reality, one that allows us to ask questions about our existing ways of seeing and interpreting, and what our role as viewers might mean. His strange, fantastical characters exist in large-scale colorful landscapes, at times almost blending into the surrounding plant life or otherwise appearing apart from it. His expansive landscapes are frequently rocky or mountainous, and at other times comprised of vibrant meadows or sparse fields. His human and animal forms are pulled into the foreground. While his figures appear serious and contemplative, there is also a humorous thread that runs throughout his compositions and his approach to figurative painting. On the surface, his tableaux appear uncanny and unusual, but upon studying them in more depth, there is multi-layered meaning embedded in his scenes. Deplazes creates a visual language deeply grounded in the contemporary, but which references his personal and extensive cultural-historical knowledge. ...
