David Breuer-Weil


David Breuer-Weil is an artist from London whose work is exhibited worldwide. He works in different media including large canvases and monumental bronze sculptures.
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Biography

David Breuer-Weil studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London from 1985 and was taught by Shelley Faussett, one of Henry Moore's assistants. He later studied English literature at Clare College, Cambridge. Following graduation, he was awarded a bursary at Sotheby's, where he was trained in various departments.
Breuer-Weil has emerged as one of the leading contemporary British sculptors. Iconic works, including Brothers and Alien have been displayed to great public and critical acclaim. Breuer-Weil’s monumental sculptures have been installed in major public spaces in London including Hampstead Heath, Hanover Square, Grosvenor Gardens, Marble Arch, Mayfair and around the world. Visitor, Visitor II and Alien were exhibited by Sotheby’s in 2010, 2011 and 2013 at their Beyond Limits exhibitions at Chatsworth House and his sculptures and two-dimensional works have been exhibited with the National Trust. In 2016-2017 Breuer-Weil exhibited at the Jewish Museum, London alongside Edmund de Waal and Hans Coper. In 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 2018, Flight, was installed in Marble Arch. Breuer-Weil’s Visitor II was exhibited in 2019 as part of The Child Within Me, Abdülmecid Efendi Pavilion, Istanbul, to coincide with the Istanbul Biennial. Alien II was exhibited in New Bond Street, London in 2021 and in 2022 Visitor V and Visitor I were installed in Berkeley Square, London.
Breuer-Weil is also famed for his monumental solo shows of large-scale painted canvases, “The Projects”. ‘The Project’ was held at the Roundhouse, Camden in 2001; ‘Project 2’ at the Bargehouse, OXO Tower in 2003; ‘Project 3’ was held in conjunction with the Ben Uri Gallery and Museum in 2007 and in 2013 ‘Project 4’ was exhibited in, Waterloo.
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 Breuer-Weil: Radical Visionary in 2011 and in 2020 Gli Ori published David Breuer-Weil Golden Drawings. Breuer-Weil lives and works in London.

The ''Projects''

Breuer-Weil has labelled his collections of work as 'Project 1', 'Project 2', etc. 'Project 1' was completed during 1997–2001 and exhibited in the crypt of the Roundhouse in Camden Town, London. 'Project 2' was exhibited at the Bargehouse on the South Bank of the River Thames. 'Project 3' was exhibited in a disused multi-storey car park in Covent Garden. 'Project 4', included themes of homeland, territory and belonging, and its motifs included fire, water, boxes, scrolls, books, feet, bricks, bubbles and Buddha-like seated figures.

''Visitor''

In 2010 Breuer-Weil exhibited Visitor at Sotheby's 'Beyond Limits' selling exhibition at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. Visitor is a self-portrait sculpture of the top half of Breuer-Weil's head. The artist's fingerprints are greatly enlarged on the surface of the sculpture.
Breuer-Weil exhibited Visitor II at the 2011 'Beyond Limits' show, also at Chatsworth House. In Visitor II, Breuer-Weil presents a giant human form that has landed on the earth from above, an alien or fallen angel.
Breuer-Weil claimed, "With Visitor II 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... 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."
In an interview with James Hyman, Breuer-Weil commented, "I find that sculpting in clay is in some ways more like painting than painting itself… I am definitely aware of the rich history and symbolism of making figures out of the earth, out of clay, because according to most ancient sources, notably the Bible, the first man was literally made out of earth and in fact the very word Adam means earth: there is the almost alchemical idea that when you use paint or clay you are creating a life force.".

Monograph

David Breuer-Weil: Radical Visionary was published by Skira, Milan, in August 2011. It covers the history of Breuer-Weil's career. It is currently the only monograph on Breuer-Weil's work. It includes images of over 200 works, essays by art historians Monica Bohm-Duchen, James Hyman, Ben Hanly, Richard Aronowitz, Susie Stanton Staikos, Simon Blomfield and John Russell Taylor.

Exhibitions

Solo shows

  • 2022 'Visitor V' and 'Visitor I', with E & R Cyzer for Mayfair Art Weekend and the Mayfair Sculpture Trail, Berkeley Square, London, UK
  • 2021 'Flight', Monumental sculpture, St Pancras New Church, London, UK
  • 2021 'Alien II', with E & R Cyzer for Mayfair Art Weekend and the Mayfair Sculpture Trail, New Bond Street, London
  • 2021 'The Coviad' and 'Selected Golden Drawings' at the Ben Uri Museum and Gallery, London, UK
  • 2019 'Emergence II', Monumental sculpture, Permanent Installation, London Docklands, London, UK
  • 2019 'Laocoön ', Laocoon Gallery, London, UK
  • 2019 David Breuer-Weil at Christie’s: 'Flight', Monumental sculpture, Marble Arch, London, UK
  • 2019 'Stoic', Monumental sculpture, London, UK
  • 2018 Airborne an exhibition of new works, E & R Cyzer Gallery, London, UK
  • 2017 - 2019 'Alien' and 'Brothers', Monumental sculptures, St Pancras New Church, London, UK
  • 2017 - present 'Brothers' and 'Brothers II', Portman Square, London, UK
  • 2017 'Visitor', Monumental sculpture, Cavendish Square, London, UK
  • 2016 Animal Farm, Beastly Muses and Metaphors, Sotheby’s S|2, London, UK
  • 2016-2017 Out of Chaos, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, UK
  • 2016-2017 Shaping Ceramics: From Lucie Rie to Edmund de Waal, Jewish Museum, London, UK
  • 2016 'Soul', Monumental sculpture, Permanent Installation, Children’s Wing of Shaare Zedek Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel
  • 2016 'Brothers' Monumental sculpture, Marble Arch, London, UK
  • 2015-2016 'Alien', Monumental sculpture, Mottisfont, Hampshire, UK,
  • 2013-2017 'Emergence' Monumental sculpture, Portman Square, London, UK
  • 2013-2017 'Alien', Monumental sculpture, Grosvenor Gardens, London, UK
  • 2015 Centenary Exhibition: Out of Chaos – Ben Uri: 100 Years in London, Somerset House, London, UK
  • 2015 Screening of Breuer-Weil film, The King of Nerac and attendant discussion, ICA, London, UK
  • 2015 Screening of Breuer-Weil film, The King of Nerac and attendant discussion, The Film Society of the Lincoln Centre in association with the New York Jewish Film Festival, Walter Reade Theatre, New York City, USA
  • 2014 'Alien', Monumental sculpture, Museo Berardo Collection, Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2013 'Jerusalem, Centre of the World', Monumental sculpture, Permanent Installation, Teddy Kollek Park, Jerusalem, Israel
  • 2013 'Alien', Monumental Sculpture, Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth,Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, UK
  • 2012 'Emergence', Monumental sculpture, Hanover Square, London, UK
  • 2012 'Visitor I', Monumental sculpture, 2012, Golders Hill Park Lily Pond, Hampstead Heath, London, UK
  • 2011 'Visitor II', Monumental Sculpture, Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, UK
  • 2011 'Visitor I', Monumental sculpture, Permanent Collection, Cafesjian Museum of Art, Armenia
  • 2010 'Visitor I', Monumental Sculpture, Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth,Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, UK
  • 2009 'Anorexic Babes' – Hayek Contemporary Art Centre, Jaffa, Israel
  • 2008 The Vogue Landscapes, Alon Zakaim Fine Art, London, UK
  • 2007 'Project 3', Ben Uri Museum, Covent Garden, London, UK
  • 2007 'Codex' – Biblion, London, UK
  • 2006 Breuer-Weil: Drawings, Lyon & Turnbull, London, UK
  • 2004 Parallel Worlds, Boundary Gallery, London, UK
  • 2003 'Project 2', The Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf, London, UK
  • 2003 Extremes, Boundary Gallery, London, UK
  • 2001 'Project 1', The Roundhouse, Camden Town, London, UK
  • 2000 Adult Toys, Soho House, London, UK
  • 1999 Fields of Dream: Drawings and Paintings, Boundary Gallery, London, UK
  • 1999 Painted Reliefs, Engel Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 1998 Abstract Landscapes, Coningsby Gallery, London, UK
  • 1997 Boundary Gallery, London, UK
  • 1994 Boundary Gallery, London, UK
  • 1993 Engel Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 1991 Large Figurations, Sotheby's, London, UK
  • 1986 Clare College, Cambridge, UK
  • 1985 Central Library, Cambridge, UK

Mixed Shows

  • 2019 'Visitor II', Monumental sculpture, The Child Within Me, Abdülmecid Efendi Pavilion, to coincide with the Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 2011 Beyond the Human Clay, James Hyman Fine Art, London, UK
  • 2011 The Human Figure in 20th Century British Sculpture, Boundary Gallery, London, UK
  • 2010 Beyond Limits: Sotheby's at Chatsworth, Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, UK
  • 2010 Apocalypse, Osborne Samuel Gallery, London, UK
  • 2007 Alon Zakaim Fine Art, London, UK
  • 2006 Recent Acquisitions, 2001–2006, Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum of Art, UK
  • 2005 Contemporary Masters, Engel Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 2005 Closing the Door? Immigrants to Britain 1905–2005, The London Jewish Museum of Art, UK
  • 2003 Director's Choice: Highlights from the Ben Uri Permanent Collection, The London Jewish Museum of Art, UK
  • 2001 The Ben Uri Story: From Art Society to Museum, Phillips Auctioneers in association Ben Uri Gallery, London, UK
  • 2001 Mary R, Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh, UK
  • 2000 The Land, Engel Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 1999 E1 Gallery, London, UK
  • 1997 Engel Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 1996 Sotheby's Artists, New York City
  • 1995 Galerie Mantoux, Paris, France
  • 1995 The Colour Blue, Boundary Gallery, London, UK
  • 1994 Mizel Museum, Colorado, USA
  • 1994 Sotheby's Artists, London, UK
  • 1994 Engel Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 1985–88, 90, 94 Ben Uri Art Gallery, London, UK