Stéphane Delaprée
Stéphane Delaprée (born 26 October 1956 in Paris, France) is a French artist resident in Cambodia and is known for his "Happy Painting", naive paintings combining humour, poetic, and realism. Biography. 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 the 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, 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 Thai Airways International's 50th anniversary, Stephane Delapree was commissioned to create a 3-meter mural for the TAI 'Cambodia headquarter. In 2009, the Ahuja Museum for Arts, Calcutta, India, organized 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 artworks canvases to illuminate the chapel of his 14th 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's biggest Beaujolais nouveau wine producers, the French Georges Duboeuf, commissioned Stef a personal label design for the 59th 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.