The artistic practice of Peter Depelchin (°1985, Ostend, Belgium; lives and works in New York, USA) consists largely of a new contemporary approach to the tableau vivant, built on a web of inspirations drawn from art history, literature, and high-resolution astrophysical imagery. The works evoke mystical cults, distorted and dreamlike architectures, and astronomical phenomena that seem to be traces of a bygone past. They bring together the signs and symbols of an iconography that makes myth resonate with the contemporary world. The meticulous use of geometric motifs and an eclectic approach to the representation of space produce abstract features and artistic outcomes that are both stimulated and challenged by a radically archetypal, allegorical, and theatrical approach to figuration. The staging of real-life “tableaux vivants” involving the artist's family and friends contributes concretely to this dialogue between naturalism and abstraction. The juxtaposition of these seemingly anachronistic elements inevitably evokes a certain timelessness, at the crossroads of past and future. Through his incomparable aesthetic language, the artist creates his own cosmogony, shedding new light on contemporary drawing and questioning the current context of unlimited image availability.
Exhibitions with the Gallery
The Darkest Hour, SARAHCROWN New York, October 25 - December21, 2024
