20 Menoc Hotel

In his portrait titled "Le dépeupleur" (1996-1997), Vincent Chhim interrogates the contemporary relevance of representation and figuration in painting. This highly structured painting employs the use of geometrically structured planes and a framing style directly inspired by photography—specifically of an anonymous Nazi official. Beyond the commonplace nature of the genre (portraiture), the subject matter and deliberate use of a technique bordering on academicism evoke an "uncanny strangeness," partly due to the disturbing and exaggerated portrayal of the eye that directly engages the viewer, prompting an exploration of the complexity of the human and monstrous aspects.