David Breuer-‐Weil Monumental Works
Visitor, 2010
cast bronze with brown/black pa@na edi@on of 3 plus 1 Ar@st’s Proof 300 x 240 x 240 cm “With this sculpture I wanted to express the miracle of what it means to be human and mortal, to be a visitor on Earth. And one way to do that was through the shock of scale. In addiAon, by slightly submerging the image I wanted to suggest our connecAon with the Earth. When installed in water I wanted to give the impression of a figure with far greater potenAal than what you actually see, and I believe the reflecAons accentuate that effect. This work is a visual embodiment of thought. Every human being is largely hidden and secret.”
Visitor 2, 2011
cast bronze with black/brown pa@na in two parts edi@on of 3 plus 1 Ar@st’s Proof 350 x 200 x 150 cm and 300 x 200 x 200 cm “With ‘Visitor 2’ I wanted to create a piece with the Ameless simplicity of the Avebury Stones or Stonehenge, but infused with humanity and dynamism, and with a sense of the mysAcal and primeval. There may exist an extra-‐terrestrial race of aliens idenAcal to us in all ways but scale. I love the idea that one such being might suddenly and unexpectedly have landed on earth, a similar shock to seeing a large fish or a whale washed up on the shore. But at the same Ame I always loved Dante’s fallen angel. In many ways every human being is a fallen angel. At the same Ame I have this idea of the absurdity of the human condiAon, a Monty Python-‐like surreal sense of humor that is part of the way I view reality.”
Emergence, 2012
cast bronze with green/black pa@na edi@on of 3 plus 1 Ar@st’s Proof installed dimensions 190 x 160 x 485cm (Fig 1 -‐-‐ 190 x 160 x 110cm; Fig 2 -‐-‐ 140 x 135 x 70cm; Fig 3 -‐-‐ 75 x 95 x 45cm; Fig 4 -‐-‐ 25 x 40 x 50cm) As installed into Hanover Square, London. This four-‐part bronze shows a figure emerging from under the ground. The figure is deliberately sculpted in a craggy manner to resemble rough rock, sugges@ng the origins of Adam from the earth. The juxtaposi@on of the rough and smooth surfaces that compose the figure alludes to the sculp@ng process that we go through as humans in our evolu@on in this genera@on and the next. Across the body there are marks, drawings and scribblings that a[est to the scars and lessons that are received and learnt throughout life. The cropping of the figures into four pieces emphasises the different stages of man.
Alien, 2012
cast bronze with black/brown pa@na edi@on of 3 plus 1 Ar@st’s proof height 600cm As installed into Leicester Square, London. An extension of the ‘Visitor’ series, Alien is a vast 6m tall work depic@ng a humanoid figure crash landed in the earth. It’s circling legs suggest that this a more permanent development as the figure struggles to free itself from the ground. “I have always been fascinated by the idea that we are not alone, that a massive Alien might suddenly land on earth. I wanted to capture the sense of wonder and shock that such an arrival would generate. Every new work of art is an Alien, an unexpected arrival. But I also think that an extra-‐terrestrial being would look like us, but perhaps much larger or smaller. However, the Atle Alien also suggests something quite different: the difficulty of being an outsider. My father arrived in England from Vienna with his parents as refugees in 1938. My grandfather was interred as an enemy ‘Alien’, a great paradox given the reasons he had to leave Austria, something that my family oXen spoke about. SomeAmes immigrants hide their true idenAty beneath the surface, like this sculpture. Many of my works, both painAngs and sculptures, explore the theme of belonging or alienaAon. But with this work I wanted to use a vast, breathing human form to express the profound feelings associated with these themes. And I needed the massive scale to portray the intensity of these emoAons.”