DAVID BREUER-WEIL
ME
Me is an intense self portrait in which the artist has expressed the essence of being
David Breuer-Weil (British, b.1965) ME 2018 black Tanganika marble 150 x 150 x 150 cm inscribed ‘DBW 2018’, ‘Breuer-Weil’ and with the stamp of the King of Nerac
“I wanted to express the weird reality of consciousness, the sensation of being here, breathing, being aware of my thoughts and sensations. My idea of portraying myself was the desire to make a sculpture that is a jolt portraying the reality of being here in the most physical manner possible, as a small mountain of sensations."
David Breuer-Weil
MONUMENTAL SCULPTURES
Alien
Alien conceived in 2012 bronze with brown patina height: 6m (19’ 8”) cast as an edition of 3 plus 2 Artist’s Proofs in Bronze Resin inscribed ‘Breuer-Weil / 2012’ and ‘Alien’ Exhibited: Sotheby’s: Beyond Limits, Chatsworth House, 2013 Grosvenor Gardens, London 2013-2015 (part of Westminster City Council’s ‘City of Sculpture’) The Berardo Collection, Lisbon (permanent collection) National Trust, Mottisfont House, Hampshire, 2015-2016 St Pancras New Church, London, 2017 - 2019
An extension of the ‘Visitor’ series, Alien is a vast 6m tall work depicting 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 extraterrestrial being would look like us, but perhaps much larger or smaller. However, the title 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 interned as an enemy ‘Alien’, a great paradox given the reasons he had to leave Austria, something that my family often spoke about. Sometimes immigrants hide their true identity beneath the surface, like this sculpture. Many of my works, both paintings and sculptures, explore the theme of belonging or alienation. 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 emotions.”
Chatsworth House, 2013
Mottisfont House, 2015-6
St Pancras New Church, 2017 - 2019
Brothers
Brothers conceived in 2015 bronze, height, 6m edition of 3 plus 1 Artist’s Proof in bronze resin inscribed ‘Breuer-Weil’ and “Brothers/2016” Exhibited: Marble Arch, London, May - November 2016 St Pancras New Church, London, 2017 - 2019 “This sculpture is a human arch, but the arch means something very potent: the joining of two minds. It is about connections such as brothers, siblings, partners, friends and joining strangers. It is an image of coming together, resolution and peace. But it also offers therefore a suggestion of symbolic meanings to every bridge or arch. Every arch is a symbol of connection and resolution. For me Stonehenge is the ultimate sculpture and it has always influenced my sculptural work since I made a small copy of it as a student. Part of Stonehenge is a similar image of an arch, of two interconnected forms, with the connection the lintel. For me this lintel is a thought, a shared mind. “I believe that it is only a matter of time until technology allows literal telepathy. A few generations ago the idea of phoning somebody thousands of miles away would have seemed like a preposterous fantasy, but now we take that, email and social media for granted. Distances between people that were formerly unbridgeable are now connected in less than a second. I want to express that miraculous element of modernity. Now is in many ways the age of communication. “This piece is very human and physical. Clay and bronze are a media that equate human flesh. I have deliberately enlivened the surface so that each square inch of the massive surface is living and breathing. I have partly done this by having a dynamic and experimental treatment of human form that is far from being
academic or depictive. I have deliberately allowed the spontaneous quirks in the maquette to come through to the full sized version without attempting to correct them. Part of the visual appeal will be that it appears to be both tiny and massive simultaneously as my maquette was only a few inches tall. You can still sense every fingermark in the tiny model but writ large. This piece is like a small thought or idea that suddenly appears before you. It is all about entering the consciousness of the viewer. I have found that if you maintain something of the intimacy of the original maquette in the large piece it is more effective and emotionally powerful. “The two figures are brothers, partners. But they also suggest the idea that each person has two aspects: good and evil. I believe that every person has the capacity for both elements. According to the Talmud Adam, the first man, was double sided, he had two figures back to back, because he was created with two inclinations, a good inclination and an evil inclination. This idea has undoubtedly been an influence. I like the idea that when you communicate with another person you are also seeing a reflection of yourself, of your own humanity in another person. In the large version (unlike the maquette) I have used the same figure twice, each figure is identical to the other, a mirror image. “My communicators, my brothers are communicating in a very physical and intimate way. I want the viewer to view the arch from underneath, to look upwards at this moment of communication because such a connection is a form of prayer or the expression of a hope that we can be understood by ourselves or another person; the image is a physical embodiment of the joining of minds. “I have personally textured the entire surface with thousands of marks and inscriptions, effectively painting in plaster. Included in this diorama of marks, words and ideas I wrote the names of multiple pairings of brothers throughout time, from the most archetypal Cain and Abel to modern brothers including my own and those of many others. You pass under the arch and see this graffiti, but it is not graffiti accrued over time by vandals, but part of the sculpture and its theme.”
St Pancras New Church, 2017 - 2019
Brothers 2
Brothers 2 conceived 2016 bronze length 276 cm cast as an edition of 4 plus 1 Artist’s Proof inscribed on the base ‘DBW / 2016’, ‘Brothers’, ‘David / Breuer / Weil’ and with the insignia of the King of Nerac stamped with the Morris Singer foundry mark Exhibited: Economist Plaza, London, May - September 2017 Portman Square, London, since October 2017 Breuer-Weil has made a series of sculptures titled Brothers. These works, of differing dimensions, explore a fascinating variety of permutations of the psychological and sculptural relationships between two human figures, whether brothers, twins, lovers or partners. One of the most dramatic of the series is the present work, Brothers 2, an entrancing image that portrays two figures heading in different directions joined by powerful strands. Breuer-Weil has commented on the motif that “Binding is the connection between the finite and the infinite. It contains and limits, but also delineates and gives something identity. It is both horrific and beautiful. The fathers and sons, sisters, mothers or brothers want to move apart but they are held together by a hundred different strands. Similarly, people may want to come together but are held back by unseen forces. I have done a lot of works which feature figures bound together by straps. Each person is bound to the other in different ways and they are each connected in complex ways despite being separate. These “binding works” are about the possibility or rather impossibility of independence from others, especially family members. I want to make visible the ropes that are usually invisible but are nevertheless palpably present.” (David Breuer-Weil: Radical Visionary, Skira Milan, 2011, page 362)
Brothers 2 installed at Economist Plaza, London
Brothers 2 installed in Portman Square, London
Emergence Hanover Square, 2012
Emergence conceived in 2012 cast bronze with green/black patina edition of 3 plus 1 Artist’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) Exhibited: London, Hanover Square, 2012 London, Project 4, The Vaults, Waterloo, 2013 London, Portman Square, 2013 - 2017 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, suggesting the origins of Adam from the earth. The juxtaposition of the rough and smooth surfaces that compose the figure alludes to the sculpting process that we go through as humans in our evolution in this generation and the next. Across the body there are marks, drawings and scribblings that attest 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.
Portman Square, 2013-7
Project 4, 2013
Flight
Flight conceived in 2018 bronze height, 7m edition of 3 plus 1 Artist’s Proof inscribed and dated Exhibited: Marble Arch, London, June 2018 - May 2019
“I have long wanted to make what seems to be a virtually impossible, magical sculpture of a flying man. Sculpture, especially in bronze, usually represents weight and place. The image of the flying man represents the opposite: weightlessness and freedom. This is an airborne man, the quintessential modern image: the human on the move. “In today’s world nobody is bound to one particular place. It seems like nothing to travel thousands of miles in a day. I fly all the time and produce a large number of my drawings and small paintings when in flight. Flying frees the mind. Human aspiration and ambition has always been represented by the idea of flying; but it is also about human and artistic freedom, the possible flights of the imagination where anything is possible. And we are now venturing out,
exploring space as never before. “However there is some ambiguity in the title. Flight also suggests escaping. The straps are visible embodiments of the invisible ties that bind us to a place, person or situation even when we are about to depart. In this sculpture the paradox is that these very straps that bind us to the ground are what enable the figure to fly as a sculpture. In my paintings, drawings and sculptures I have often produced images of straps and bindings to represent our ties with other people, siblings, parents and our past. These straps also reference the umbilicus. In a sense we spend our whole lives tearing away from the things that connect us to our source.”
Marble Arch, 2018
Visitor
Chatsworth House, 2010
Visitor conceived in 2010 cast bronze with brown/black patina edition of 3 plus 2 Artist’s Proof (1 bronze and 1 bronze resin) 250 x 310 x 210 cm Exhibited: Sotheby’s: Beyond Limits at Chatsworth House, 2010 Hampstead Heath, Golders Hill, 2012 Cafesjian Center for the Arts, Armenia Cavendish Square, London, since June 2017 “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 addition, by slightly submerging the image I wanted to suggest our connection with the Earth. When installed in water I wanted to give the impression of a figure with far greater potential than what you actually see, and I believe the reflections accentuate that effect. This work is a visual embodiment of thought. Every human being is largely hidden and secret.”
Hampstead Heath, 2012
Cavendish Square, since 2017
Visitor 2
Visitor 2 conceived in 2011 cast bronze with black/brown patina in two parts edition of 3 plus 1 Artist’s Proof 350 x 200 x 150 cm and 300 x 200 x 200 cm inscribed ‘DBW’ Exhibited: Sotheby’s: Beyond Limits, Chatsworth House, 2011 “With Visitor 2 I wanted to create a piece with the timeless simplicity of the Avebury Stones or Stonehenge, but infused with humanity and dynamism, and with a sense of the mystical and primeval. There may exist an extra-terrestrial race of aliens identical 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 time I always loved Dante’s fallen angel. In many ways every human being is a fallen angel. At the same time I have this idea of the absurdity of the human condition, a Monty Python-like surreal sense of humor that is part of the way I view reality.”
Chatsworth House, 2011
Stoic
Stoic conceived in 2018 bronze height: 220cm cast as an edition of 4 plus 1 Artist’s Proofs Exhibited: currently installed at 37 Conduit Street, London
The latest in a series of works by Breuer-Weil to contemplate the history of philosophy this full figure wears the scars of its production like medals of honour to the art of creation. The surface, made initially in plaster before being cast into bronze, is inscribed with aphorisms and maxims belonging to the artist and many famous thinkers from antiquity to present day. The legs connect the mass of the torso to the heavy feet as if propelling its existence directly out of the earth. In the artist’s words: “Stoic is a towering bronze figure that exemplifies human endurance. I wanted to create a figure that appeared like a timeless weathered totem, who has armoured himself against the challenges of life but is also awake with needs and longings. The surface is filled with pictograms and short sentences such as ‘I want, I am’. This is a reinterpretation of Descartes’ famous dictum ‘I think therefore I am’. Stoic is the fifth work in my Philosopher series and the only full figure; the others are busts. The figure is raw life and energy. In the process of its creation I smashed up large sheets of plaster and reassembled them, Stoic is like a human Phoenix rising from the wreckage of modern life.”
DAVID BREUER-WEIL British, b. 1965 David Breuer-Weil was born in London in 1965 and studied at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art under Henry Moore’s assistant Shelley Fausset and at Clare College, Cambridge. Breuer-Weil is famed for his monumental solo shows of vast painted canvases referred to as the Projects. ‘The Project’ was held in 2001 at the Roundhouse, Camden; ‘Project 2’ was held at the Bargehouse, OXO Tower in 2003; ‘Project 3’ was then held in conjunction with the Ben Uri Gallery and Museum in 2007 and at the beginning of 2013 ‘Project 4’ was staged in The Vaults, Waterloo. Alongside the Projects Breuer-Weil continues to produce paintings, sculpture and smaller scale works on paper. Breuer-Weil has emerged as one of the leading contemporary British sculptors with iconic works such as Brothers and Alien displayed to great public and critical acclaim. These powerful works have been installed in major public spaces in London including Hampstead Heath, Hanover Square, Grosvenor Gardens, Marble Arch and around the world. Visitor, Visitor 2 and Alien were included in Sotheby’s 2010, 2011 and 2013 Beyond Limits exhibitions at Chatsworth House. His sculptures and two-dimensional works have been exhibited with the National Trust more recently. In 2016-2017 Breuer-Weil exhibited alongside Edmund de Waal and Hans Coper at the Jewish Museum, London. In June-July 2017 Christie’s held a solo show of monumental Breuer-Weil sculpture that was held at various locations across London; Cavendish Square, St Pancras, Portman Square and the Economist Plaza. In the summer of 2018 a new monumental work, Flight, was installed into Marble Arch. A film about the artist, The King of Nerac, directed by Annie Sulzberger, was premiered in 2015 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London and in New York at the Lincoln Center. Variety describes the film as delivering “a remarkably detailed study of one man’s artistic process … his huge statues and canvases invites bigscreen play”. Skira published the monograph David BreuerWeil: Radical Visionary in 2011. Breuer-Weil lives and works in London.
www.davidbreuerweil.com @davidbreuerweil
Selected exhibitions, works in Collections, Public Spaces and Film David Breuer-Weil at Christie’s: Flight at Marble Arch, London, June 2018-May 2019 Airborne at E & R Cyzer Gallery, London, an exhibition of new works, October-November 2018 David Breuer-Weil at Christie’s: an exhibition of monumental sculptures across London, June-July 2017
Children’s Wing of Shaare Zedek Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel, Monumental Public Sculpture, Permanent Installation, Soul (David Breuer-Weil) David Breuer-Weil, Project 3, Solo Exhibition, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, The London Jewish Museum of Art, Covent Garden, London, 2007 Closing the Door? Immigrants to Britain 1905-2005, The Jewish Museum, London (also featured Chris Ofili, Qu Lei Lei, Amal Ghosh and others), 2005
Animal Farm, Beastly Muses and Metaphors, 2016, Sotheby’s S | 2, London Out of Chaos, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, UK, 2016-2017 Shaping Ceramics: From Lucie Rie to Edmund de Waal, Jewish Museum, London, 2016-2017 Museo Berardo Collection, Lisbon, Portugal, Permanent Collection, Monumental Sculpture, Alien (David Breuer-Weil) Brothers (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental Sculpture, installed at Marble Arch, London, UK, 2016 Alien (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental Sculpture, installed at Mottisfont (National Trust House), Hampshire, UK, (September 2015-November 2016) Cafesjian Museum of Art, Armenia, Permanent Collection, Monumental Sculpture, Visitor 1 (David Breuer-Weil) Emergence (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental Sculpture, installed in Portman Square, London, UK, 2013-current Alien (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental Sculpture, installed in Grosvenor Gardens, London, UK, 2013-2015 Centenary Exhibition: Out of Chaos – Ben Uri: 100 Years in London, Somerset House, London, UK, 2015 ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), London, UK, Screening of Breuer-Weil film, The King of Nerac (directed by Annie Sulzberger) and attendant discussion, January 2015 The Film Society of the Lincoln Centre in association with the New York Jewish Film Festival, at the Walter Reade Theatre, Screening of Breuer-Weil Film, The King of Nerac (directed by Annie Sulzberger) and attendant discussion, January 2015 Emergence (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental Sculpture, installed in Hanover Square, London, UK, 2012 Visitor 1 (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental Sculpture, installed in Golders Hill Park Lily Pond, Hampstead Heath, London, UK, 2012 Teddy Kollek Park, Jerusalem, Israel, Monumental Public Sculpture, Permanent Installation, Jerusalem, Centre of the World (David Breuer-Weil)
Select Bibliography David Breuer-Weil: an exhibition of monumental sculptures, 2017, exhibition catalogue, Christie’s, London Animal Farm, Beastly Muses and Metaphors, 2016, exhibition catalogue, Sotheby’s S | 2, London The Economist, “Q & A with David Breuer-Weil”, 2016 David Breuer-Weil: Soul, 2016, Shaare Zedek (ed. C. Craig, J. Bernstein), Jerusalem Highlights from the Ben Uri Collection, 2015, The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, London Out of Chaos, Ben Uri: 100 Years in London, 2015, exhibition catalogue, The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, London Review of The King of Nerac, “Variety”, London, 2015 Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, 2013, exhibition catalogue, Sotheby’s David Breuer-Weil: Jerusalem Centre of the World, ed. C. Craig, 2013, commissioned by the Jerusalem Foundation David Breuer-Weil: Project 4, 2013, exhibition catalogue (sponsored by Artnet), London David Breuer-Weil, Radical Visionary, 2011, A Monograph on David Breuer-Weil, Published by Skira, Milan Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, 2011, exhibition catalogue, Sotheby’s Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, 2010, exhibition catalogue, Sotheby’s David Breuer-Weil: Project 3, 2007, exhibition catalogue, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, supported by European Association for Jewish Culture, Seven Dials WC2, NCP and Brado Group