BOOBS & FLOWERS

source: designboom

the oeuvre of olaf breuning can be categorized as a species of performance art — staged, produced, and carefully directed to achieve a very specific photographic, often humorous result. in the case of ‘color wheels’, the swiss visual artist has introduced a familiar toy into the scene — a pinwheel — the humble, childhood apparatus made of a folded colored paper attached to a stick at its axle with a pin. when blown on by a person or the wind, complex whirlings take place, materializing as kaleidoscopic blurs in space. breuning sets up a series of the rotating rainbows fixed to rigid horizontal and vertical beams. all at once the wheels are spun, and the ensuing image captured is a whimsical and surrealistic, yet manmade, vision.
image courtesy of olaf breuning thematically, round shapes weave a common thread throughout breuning’s recent works. ‘firey eye’ appropriates the same geometric silhouette and creative approach as his play with pinwheels, orchestrating a moving scene that produces a particular static, photographic image as a result. in this instance, fireworks are fixed to a sturdy, gate-like frame and are simultaneously detonated. wild, flaming sparks are ablaze with a vivid sensation of dynamism, and though each singular, circular fireball stirs with scene of glowing vigor, the scene is alive through their interaction with each other.
always with a keen sense of humor, breuning’s installation at the standard hotel in miami saw a sea of inflatable breasts floating alongside tiny, feminine flowers bobbing up and down in the south beach resort’s hammam retreat. ‘boobs & flowers’ is made from 300 stress release/ squeeze balls situated in the pool, allowing each visitor to take dip into the artist’s sensual concept. the interactive art installation was influenced by breuning’s teenage years, as he says ‘life was full of wonderful new things and the newest of all was sexuality.’
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source: zpkorg
«Unfortunately I can’t paint», Olaf Breuning maintains with regret. At the same time – or perhaps precisely because of this – he has been experimenting for a long time with colour. He covered people with paint just as if their bodies were a canvas. He orchestrated fire works to exploding colour compositions. Then he painted over coloured or printed transparent foils. All these actions served to be recorded in photographic form as pictures.
In the Felix Klee room of the Zentrum Paul Klee, Olaf Breuning is realising a collaborative art work from 23rd August until 10th November 2013. The Swiss artist, who has lived in New York for 13 years, has thought up a concept for a gigantic mural, which for the duration of the exhibition will be created through the participation of visitors to the Zentrum Paul Klee. The advancement of the work processes can either be followed on different channels or through repeated visits (multiple entry for the exhibition is free) be part of the continuing creation.
In his work Olaf Breuning does not restrict himself to just one single medium but works simultaneously with photography, film, sculpture, drawing and most recently painting. He is just as fascinated by items found in discount stores as by individual hand-made objects. His art wishes to be simply accessible and appeal to every observer in some way or another. Wit and humour function often as the key to comprehension but also reveal certain impenetrable depths.
In the work that Breuning has conceived for the Zentrum Paul Klee, the performative act is no longer just the means to an end. It is not used to produce a photograph as in some of his other „painting“ works, but uses the collaboration of the public during the entire duration of the exhibition, to become the actual essence of the work itself. The centre of interest is the procedure. This is determined partly by the situation at the outset that Breuning creates by placing hundreds of trays with cups filled with various different colours in a grid-like form on the wall. The visitors to the exhibition will throw balls at them so that the colours splash onto the wall. The artist surrenders the completion of his work of art to the public and in so doing also to chance. In this way Breuning makes the intensely charged moments in the production of the art work visible, oscillating between genial creation and coincidence or between concept and expressive execution.
Following the exhibition of Rémy Zaugg in 2007, Olaf Breuning’s show is the next single exhibition dedicated to a contemporary Swiss artist at the Zentrum Paul Klee. With his actute talent for observation, his ironical view of events as well as his interest in artistic processes, Breuning is a predestined exhibition partner for the Zentrum Paul Klee.
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source: zupi
Tomando a forma humana como tela em branco, o suíço Olaf Breuning iniciou uma investigação artística de longo prazo a respeito do corpo e das cores.
Tudo começou em 2009, com os Color Studies – uma exploração das cores azul, vermelha, amarela e verde. Em 2010, foi a vez de Andy Warhol e Marilyn Monroe serem referenciados por Breuning nas duas partes do projeto Marilyns. Em 2011, o artista deu início ao projeto The Art Freaks, no qual presta homenagem a uma série de artistas, incluídos aí Van Gogh, Mondrian, Miró, Pollock, Basquiat e outros. Num trabalho inspirador, Breuning trata de inspirações.
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source: boumbang
Né en 1970, Olaf Breuning est un artiste suisse dont les productions visuelles saturées de couleurs viennent interroger le spectateur sur ce qu’est le sérieux. Détournant les clichés des courants artistiques dominants du XXe siècle (pop art, photographies surréalistes, art abstrait…) ou produisant des parodies de clichés de type documentaire, les images qu’il fabrique intègrent le corps de ses modèles à des oeuvres à l’abord apparemment simple.
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source: hatjecantzde
Der Schweizer Künstler Olaf Breuning, 1970 in Schaffhausen geboren, ist in den letzten drei Jahren durch seine Beteiligung an internationalen Gruppenausstellungen wie »Missing Link« (Kunstmuseum Bern/Kunst Haus Dresden), »Hypermental« (Kunsthaus Zürich/Kunsthalle Hamburg) oder »Let’s entertain« (Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis/Centre Pompidou, Paris/Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg) einer breiteren Öffentlichkeit bekannt geworden. In seinen Fotografien, Videos und Installationen setzt sich Olaf Breuning mit der medialen Wirklichkeit auseinander, die uns täglich umgibt. Er bedient sich dabei eines riesigen Arsenals an Bildern aus Film, Fernsehen und Werbung, aus Videoclips und Computerspielen, die er zu einem hybriden Mix von nonchalanter Eleganz fügt. Nichts ist zu heilig oder zu profan, um nicht spielerisch-hintersinnig kombiniert zu werden: In seiner Installation »Ugly Yelp« von 2000 etwa kreiert Breuning mit Versatzstücken aus Okkultismus, Esoterik und Vampirfilm ein Ensemble, in dem sich Ekel, Süße und Kitsch, Schauer, Humor und Ernst zu einer eindrücklichen Bildwelt vereinigen.