About
The physical scope of Breuer-Weil's work is vast and varied: ranging from monumental paintings on canvas and outdoor bronzes, to intimate works on panel and sketches that fit into stamp books. This range allows him to explore his themes from numerous perspectives and play with the nuances within them. It is this dichotomy that is at the centre of Heaven & Earth. Focusing on the concept of belonging, Breuer-Weil constructs representations of people in places before continuing to consider the wider implications; by placing his subjects far away, in orbit, he extrudes the view of the spectator.
Earth is being shown at E&R Cyzer. Throughout the exhibition, the works examine the possible parameters of existence. Alien is a contemporary image of a fallen angel, a humanoid figure whose head is submerged in the ground. The work radiates raw physicality and emotion, left exposed and stripped of its identity. On the walls around it paintings show smaller, unidentifiable figures falling to, resting on or emerging from the earth. Each is powerless in its relationship with its surroundings. The lower gallery contains Islands, a series of paintings that depict a very impersonal world dominated by colour. The figures, unable to exert themselves, are consumed by their respective world's colour. The variation of colour throughout the canvases immerses our sensory perceptions, emphasising the symbiotic relationship of man and his environment.
Heaven is exhibited at Alon Zakaim Fine Art (5-7 Dover Street, London W1S 4LD). On the ground floor, a number of large canvases depict people and objects revolving around central star motifs. In Large Orbit figures curled up in foetal positions surround the central star evoking both themes of conception and creation whilst simultaneously emphasising man's vulnerability and the destructive powers of nature. They are passive observers of the laws of physics but separated from their homes, they are in limbo, at the behest of the star's gravity. The canvases facing this series portray human life continuing in alien circumstances. Upstairs, smaller paintings and bronzes are reminiscent of photographs taken by satellites and telescopes. Breuer-Weil challenges our preconceptions of the meaning of Heaven; at once distant, incomprehensible and alien, it is also rooted in human ideals and fears.
Breuer-Weil commented: âWhat is a human being? A tiny figure whose feet are in the mud with a mind that aspires to reach the stars. We are all balanced between dreams and reality, between the spiritual and the physical, between the infinite and the finite, between the desire for immortality and the brutal face of mortality. Man is half angel and half beast. It is the ultimate paradox and one that I explore obsessively. Some of my paintings explore distances and environments light-years away, peopled with new life, aliens and endless possibilities, while others dig into the depths and hidden strata of this spinning, memory-drenched rock we call Earth.'
