Olaf Breuning

The contemporary artworks of Swiss artist Olaf Breuning throw audiences into a colorful world of surrealist sarcasm. He works through the mediums of performance, film, sculpture and drawing. His eclectic works often feature as a means to breathe life into the dull. His 2014 installation in Central Park, Clouds, does just this. The bright blue aluminium clouds, 35 feet above the ground added a splash of color to the park, brightening both days and lives. Breuning’s work derives inspiration from pop culture, taking the lightness and humor often found in culturally iconic films and TV to juxtapose more significant and deep rooted issues and questions. For example, in the 2011 series of color photographs, The Art Freaks, Browning paints the bodies of nude models in styles symbolic of influential 20th century artists such as Francis Bacon and On Kawara. This questioning of supposed masterpieces and our controlled experience of them is a theme Breuning frequently touches on, raising questions toward our relationship with art, pop culture and the internet.