Area(s) Cartoonist Name Stephane Delapree | Role Artist | |
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Born October 26, 1956 (age 67)
Paris, France ( 1956-10-26 ) | ||
Stef stephane delapree
Stéphane Delaprée, born in Paris, France, in 1956, is a French-Canadian artist resident in Cambodia and is known for his "Happy Painting", naive paintings combining humor & realism.
Contents
Cartoons
Between 1970 and 1980, Stef began his artistic career as cartoon illustrator. He mostly worked in Quebec where he founded Bambou magazine in Quebec City. He also worked for Belgium's Tintin magazine and for Fripounet magazine based in France.
Contemporary Painting
In 1992, while living in Costa Rica, willing to change medium of artwork, Stef moved to painting. His brightly colored canvases depict subjects in nature, with pure rounded motifs. Very quickly, he found a very personal style and created what he terms his own painting movement, the Happy Painting, an artistic concept based on simplicity, very strong colors and “joie de vivre”.
In 1994, Stef moved to Cambodia where he made work for UNICEF, United Nations Development Programme and World Food Program. The subjects depicted in his paintings evolved to portray daily life in Cambodia. His personal, very positive vision of the country, just out of civil war, met immediate commercial success.
Stef is not attached to and does not receive support from any government, association or artistic group.
In 1997, during the crisis in Cambodia, Stef was amongst the very few foreigners who still believed in the future of the country and stayed there.
The Happy Painting movement influenced a number of Cambodian artists. In a personal letter, HRH Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, thanked Stef for his precious contribution to Contemporary Art in Cambodia.
In 2008, Stef made a 15-meters mural for the new international airport in Sihanoukville. In 2008, he represented Cambodia at the second Contemporary Art Exhibition in Malaysia. Stef’s creations are currently in galleries in Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and India. Later, for the Thai Airways International's 50 th anniversary, Stephane Delapree was commissioned to create a 3 meters mural for tge TAI 'Cambodia headquarter. In 2009, the Ahuja Museum for Arts, Calcutta, India, organised a solo exhibition with Stephane Delapree's Happy Painting. For the 60 anniversary of Pasteur Institute in Cambodia, Stef was commissioned to create a big size canvas, for the Phnom Penh's Pasteur Institute lobby.
In 2013, Stef was commissioned by the Count de Vanssay to create three huge religious art works canvases to illuminate the chapel of his XIV century Castel, le château de la Barre, Loiret, France. In 2014, Stef was going to close his shop in Phnom Penh due to piracy but later stayed after making a deal with the Foreign Correspondent Club, until April 2016. In 2014, he made his debut in New York City. One of the world biggest beaujolais nouveau wine producer, the French Georges Duboeuf, commissioned Stef a personal label design for the 59 th anniversary of Georges Duboeuf famous Beaujolais Nouveau wine. In 2016, the artist was commissioned 5 huge religious paintings by Spanish Bishop. Stephane Delapree represented two times Cambodia, 2014 and 2016, in the Art Naif Festiwal Katowice, Poland.
Galleries
Permanent exhibition in the following galleries: