Olaf Breuning: Human Nature / Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London
November 23, 2012 – January 12, 2013
Private View: Thursday 22 November, 6-8 pm.
Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is delighted to present a new commission for The Box by New York based Swiss artist Olaf Breuning. Breuning is known for his diverse and humorous explorations of the relationship between art, life and contemporary culture. Working across film, photography, sculpture and drawing, Breuning investigates the absurd and the surreal, creating perpetual punch lines and endless drama resulting from an instinctive relationship with language and materials. Here, Breuning creates a new installation for The Box, translating a new stick drawing into a precarious miniature metal sculpture. The Box is a micro project space consisting of a floating white cube set inside a black vertical opening. It is a unique architectural space through which the gallery facilitates new projects with important emerging and established artists. Previous commissions include Ai Weiwei, Martha Rosler, Ruth Claxton and Daniel Arsham.
Breuning’s solo exhibitions include the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Chisenhale Gallery, London; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich; Centre d’Art Contemporain, La Chapelle de Geneteil, Mayenne; Kunstmuseum, Lucerne; and the New Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Group shows include Museum of Contemporary Art, Kraków (MACAK); Saatchi Gallery, London; FLAG Art Foundation, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami; The Power Plant, Toronto; CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco; 54th Venice Biennale; MoMA PS1, New York; MoMA, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and S.M.A.K, Gent, Belgium. His work is represented in collections including Fonds National d’Art Contemporain; Grafische Sammlung des Museums für Gestaltung, Zürich; Kunsthalle Hamburg; Louisiana Museum, Copenhagen; Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris; UBS Collection and Saatchi Collection, London.
Above: Olaf Breuning, Smoke Bombs 2, 2011, C-print (1/6), 120 x 150 cm.
