Photography titled "Chinese Tourists | 5" by Benoit Delplace, Original Artwork, Digital Photography

Artwork in situation

Chinese Tourists | 5 (2023) Photography by Benoit Delplace

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Original Artwork Photography, Digital Photography

Artworks classification

Original Artwork

Original Artwork refers to any work that is considered authentic and not a copy or imitation of the original works of an artist. Original artwork can be any type of painting, sculpture, performance, or other media. There are many types of original media. Mixed media includes oil, acrylic, and watercolor paintings. For workshop paintings that bear evidence of master craftsmanship, this attribution must be further qualified. While they may be less valuable for different reasons, reproductions and copies have had a tremendous impact on our experience. They reach a greater audience than originals and act as a tonic against commodification. Original Artwork could also refer to the first work, which is always preceding all others. It could also refer to a prototype or a model from which other works can be made. Each work bears great similarities to the original.
Dimensions Dimensions are available on request
Artwork's condition The artwork is in perfect condition
Categories Oriental Art Everyday Life

Le couple - Siem Reap (Temples d'Angkor) - Cambodge | The couple - Siem Reap (Angkor Temples) - Cambodia

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Once invisible because covered by dense vegetation, the Cambodian site of Angkor now attracts huge crowds of Chinese, Koreans, Americans and Europeans, many of whom contemplate only their own image, without taking the time to feel what this unique place has to teach us.

Instead of feeling, we prefer to endlessly reproduce the same images of sunrises or reflections of ourselves, which then join the infinite gallery of reflections of others who have all passed through this same place.

What is the state of our gaze in today's ultra-connected world? What value do we still place on places as exceptional as this one? What does a collection of places we've passed through bring us, when what we're showing us is a collection of stereotypes and endless reproductions of our own image?

It's around these questions that I've developed this series, opting for the use of black and white, firstly as a counterpoint to the omnipresent color on the networks, but above all because it's the only way to capture the emotional power of each image.

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Autrefois invisible car recouvert par une dense couverture végétale, le site cambodgien d’Angkor attire aujourd’hui en masse des foules de chinois, coréens, américains ou encore européens, qui pour une grande part ne contemplent plus que leur propre image sans prendre le temps de ressentir ce qu’a à nous apprendre ce lieu pourtant unique.

Au lieu de ressentir, nous préférérons reproduire à l’infini les mêmes images de lever de soleil ou le reflet de nous même qui rejoindra ensuite l’infinie galerie du reflet des autres tous passés par ce même lieu.

Qu’en est-il aujourd’hui de notre regard dans ce monde ultra-connecté ? Quelle valeur accordons nous encore à des lieux si exceptionnels que celui-ci ? Que nous apportent finalement une collection de lieux traversés quand ce que nous donnons à voir assemble stéréotypes et reproductions à l’infini de notre propre image ?

C’est autour de ces questions que j’ai élaboré cette série en optant pour l’emploi du noir et blanc, d’abord en contre point de la couleur omniprésente sur les réseaux, mais surtout parce-que seul ce procédé permet de rendre compte de la force émotionnelle que renvoie chaque image.

Benoit Delplace

France

Benoît Delplace is a French photographer and visual artist born in 1965. He is also a film director, screenwriter and art director. From the 1990s onwards, his first works were characterized by organic[...]

Benoît Delplace is a French photographer and visual artist born in 1965. He is also a film director, screenwriter and art director.

From the 1990s onwards, his first works were characterized by organic painting, echoing the plastic shocks that the works of Jackson Pollock, Francis Bacon and Georg Baselitz represented for him. This revelation stemmed from his five-year apprenticeship at the Beaux Arts, a crucial period for him in terms of open-mindedness and encounters. A large number of series followed this course, always characterized by a sensitivity to raw materials and abstraction, as well as a keen interest in different viewpoints, such as those of indigenous peoples, particularly American.

After a long period away from the company to devote herself to very different projects, 2020 was an opportunity for deep reflection. This reflection gave rise to a new desire for expression. The painting and painted volumes of the world before finally gave way to photographic research more in tune with his perception of today's world. The very notion of what we perceive as the gaze had become the new material for his work.

Series such as "Great Plains" and "Landscapes" are a direct descendant of his earlier work in abstraction. The "Chimères" series, a tribute to the French visual artist Annette Messager (to be shown shortly), and the more recent "Tiny Forest" series, which questions our perception of reality in relation to the imaginary representations that are increasingly omnipresent in the age of new technologies. These series are offered for a limited time only.

Then came a visit to the exhibition devoted to Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado (at La Villette in Paris), linked to Wim Wenders' film "The Salt of the Earth". Since then, the strength and majesty of black and white have become the ideal choice for an in-depth reflection on the nature of our gaze. Today, this new field of possibilities enables him to take his approach even further.

Numerous series are currently in preparation. "Angkor Tourists" is the first to be presented. A forthcoming series entitled "Roads" will also pay tribute to the work of Wim Wenders.

Only photographic series conceived since 2020 are presented here. They have not yet been exhibited. They are all dedicated to the memory of Pascal François, who passed away too young. He was a young visual artist. Today, he is almost unknown. Above all, he was one of his teachers at the Beaux Arts. Without the light he brought to his life, Benoît Delplace's visual work would simply never have had the chance to exist.