Breuning returns to a more raw mode of production for his paintings, using rough-hewn, chainsaw-cut woodblocks to stamp out vivid and chaotic compositions. The imagery made with the carved blocks––shapes of waves, stars, raindrops, and blades of grass––conjures a time before technology was at the heart of our lives, when we lived more in tune with our natural surroundings. Evoking meteorological maps of turbulent weather, the paintings are a metaphor for the rapid pace at which climate change is affecting our environment, which is in constant disarray. The artist hopes that they are also a call to action, or at the very least, a reason to rethink our relationship with nature and the consequences of our actions.
- Text by Metro Pictures


Olaf Breuning (1970, Schaffhausen, C. Lives and works in New York, US.
His work has been shown at NRW Forum Düsseldorf, DE; The Public Art Fund, Firedman Plaza, New York, US; Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, ICA London, UK; PS1 MOMA, New York, US; Migros Musum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, CH; Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE; Tinguely Museum, Basel, CH a.o.