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Olaf Breuning, “The Life”

  • Art, Sculpture
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
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Time Out says

3 out of 5 stars

As its name suggests, bad-boy art is meant to offend a little, though the genre often mistakes tedium for boundary pushing. Swiss artist Olaf Breuning’s work arguably falls in this category, though its light touch and visual pleasures prevent it from being obnoxious, even when trading in obvious ironies.

Here, Breuning sets out to “model the world,” which turns out to be an incoherent mess drowning in crap. This unsurprising observation becomes the jumping-off point for huge, elliptical and circular forms, wallpapered with jazzy, collagelike motifs. Recalling speech bubbles, each panel is covered with sayings and seemingly unrelated images—stylish young people, mannequin heads, planets, piles of trash, various fruits and more—tumbling around like clothes in a dryer.

it’s hard sometimes, reads one piece, as indeed it is. But according to Breuning, at least, that’s no reason not to have fun.—Howard Halle

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