Simon Deppierraz | Planarità è utopia

Opening: Friday, 13 March, 2015, 7 p.m.

Planarità è utopia
Simon Deppierraz

14 March – 25 April, 2015
cubus-m | Pohlstraße 75 | 10785 Berlin

The Italian title of Simon Deppierraz’s solo exhibition, Planarità è utopia, translated into English is “planarity is utopia.” The visual play with gravity, illusion and the weight of physical bodies characterizes the work of the Swiss artist. In his exhibition at cubus-m Deppierraz explores these fundamental laws in sculptural objects, a mobile, woodcuts as well as drawings.
Deppierraz consciously chose to title this body of work in Italian, because these works were inspired by his tenure at an artist’s residency in Genoa. His work environment in the Italian port city marks these pieces. The title questions a physical law: truly flat planes are an illusion, given that in actuality we live on a convex planet, held together only by gravitational force. Deppierraz notes:
“While watching the ocean at the port of Genoa I took pleasure in recalling that the absolute height of zero was established relative to sea level, since water as a material always reverts to a flat plane. Yet, in fact the earth is round. I find it amusing that the horizon is indeed spherical, and that water obeys the law of gravity.”

Another source of inspiration for the Swiss artist comes from his experience mountain climbing in the Alps. Here one has the sense of conquering the highs, while simultaneously experiencing the lows, forming an aspect of the background of his work. For cubus-m Deppierraz has created wonderful, small-scale sculptures, each of which poetically explores the forces of physics. The wooden sculpture Axe plays on balance, force and gravity. Here, some of the fundamental laws of physics are suspended. Equally fascinating is Alla Trina, which uses a system of fixed points that were influenced by a specific type of sail. Thus, with every breeze a kinetic mobile is created. Deppierraz comments, “I like mobiles, because they enable the use of gravity in order to produce counterweights. Everything is in a state of tension, such as trees, since they grow despite gravity.”
The sculptures are combined with woodcuts and drawings that play with our visual perception through optical effects.
In a truly poetic fashion, this exhibition explores questions of everyday certainties and playfully tests our perception.
Dr. Christine Nippe
Simon Deppierraz, born 1984 in Switzerland, lives and works in Vevey and Lausanne. From 2004 – 2008 Deppierraz earned his Bachelor of Visual Arts at the écal, and in 2010 he took part in the European Art Ensemble, Master Ecal. After he spent time at a residency in Berlin in 2009, Simon Deppierraz was a resident at the Swiss Cultural Conference residency in Genoa (Residency at Gênes, laureate of Ateliers de la ville de Vevey) in 2014 – 2015. He was awarded the Irène Reymond Foundation prize in 2013, and his work has been widely exhibited, including in Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain, Georgia and the Bishkek Museum of Fine Arts in Kyrgyzstan.