FLIGHT
conceived in 2018
bronze height: 700 cm (23’) edition of 3 + 1 Artist’s Proof inscribed and dated
Exhibited:
Marble Arch, London, June 2018 - November 2019
St Pancras New Church, London, November 2021 - May 2024
“I have long wanted to make what seems to be a virtually impossible, magical sculpture of a flying man. Sculpture, especially in bronze, usually represents weight and place. The image of the flying man represents the opposite: weightlessness and freedom. This is an airborne man, the quintessential modern image: the human on the move.
In today’s world nobody is bound to one particular place. It seems like nothing to travel thousands of miles in a day. I fly all the time and produce a large number of my drawings and small paintings when in flight. Flying frees the mind. Human aspiration and ambition has always been represented by the idea of flying; but it is also about human and artistic freedom, the possible flights of the imagination where anything is possible. And we are now venturing out, exploring space as never before.
However there is some ambiguity in the title. Flight also suggests escaping. The straps are visible embodiments of the invisible ties that bind us to a place, person or situation even when we are about to depart. In this sculpture the paradox is that these very straps that bind us to the ground are what enable the figure to fly as a sculpture. In my paintings, drawings and sculptures I have often produced images of straps and bindings to represent our ties with other people, siblings, parents and our past. These straps also reference the umbilicus. In a sense we spend our whole lives tearing away from the things that connect us to our source.”
David Breuer-Weil with Flight installed at St Pancras New Church, London, 2021 - 2024
Flight installed at St Pancras New Church, London, 2021 - 2024
Flight installed at Marble Arch, London, 2018 - 2019
David Breuer-Weil (British, b. 1965)
David Breuer-Weil was born in London in 1965 and studied at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art under Henry Moore’s assistant Shelley Fausset and at Clare College, Cambridge. Breuer-Weil is famed for his monumental solo shows of vast painted canvases referred to as ‘The Projects’ . The Project was held in 2001 at the Roundhouse, Camden; Project 2 was held at the Bargehouse, OXO Tower in 2003; Project 3 was then held in conjunction with the Ben Uri Gallery and Museum in 2007 and at the beginning of 2013 Project 4 was staged in The Vaults, Waterloo. Alongside The Projects, Breuer-Weil continues to produce paintings, sculpture and smaller scale works on paper.
Breuer-Weil has emerged as one of the leading contemporary British sculptors with iconic works such as Brothers and Alien displayed to great public and critical acclaim. These powerful works have been installed in major public spaces in London including Hampstead Heath, Hanover Square, Grosvenor Gardens, Marble Arch and around the world. Visitor I, Visitor II and Alien were included in Sotheby’s 2010, 2011 and 2013 Beyond Limits exhibitions at Chatsworth House. His sculptures and two-dimensional works have been exhibited with the National Trust more recently. In 20162017 Breuer-Weil exhibited alongside Edmund de Waal and Hans Coper at the Jewish Museum, London. In June-July 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 the summer of 2018 a new monumental work, Flight , was installed into Marble Arch and in 2019 Breuer-Weil’s Visitor II was exhibited as part of The Child Within Me, at the Abdülmecid Efendi Pavilion, Pavilion, Istanbul, to coincide with the Istanbul Biennial. Visitor V and Visitor I were installed in Berkeley Square, London in 2022. In 2023, Breuer-Weil’s sculptures Sister was installed in Hanover Square, London and Reflection was permanently installed at Dean Street, Tottenham Court Road West, London
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 (Italy) published David Breuer-Weil Golden Drawings. Breuer-Weil lives and works in London.
www.davidbreuerweil.com
Selected exhibitions, works in Collections, Public Spaces and Film
Reflection (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, Tottenham Court Road West, London, 2023, Permanent Installation
David Breuer Weil: Sculptures in The Secret Garden Solo Exhibition, The Secret Garden, Kemp Town, Brighton, 2023
Sister (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, Hanover Square, London, with E & R Cyzer, 2023
Visitor V and Visitor I (David Breuer-Weil), Berkeley Square, London, with E & R Cyzer for Mayfair Art Weekend and the Mayfair Sculpture Trail, 2022
Flight (David Breuer-Weil) Monumental sculpture, St Pancras New Church, London, November 2021 - May 2024
Alien II (David Breuer-Weil) New Bond Street, London, with E & R Cyzer for Mayfair Art Weekend and the Mayfair Sculpture Trail, 2021
The Coviad and Selected Golden Drawings, exhibition at The Ben Uri Museum and Gallery, 2021
Emergence II (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, London Docklands, Canary Wharf, 2019, Permanent Installation
Visitor II (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, The Child Within Me (exhibition), Abdülmecid Efendi Pavilion, Istanbul (to coincide with the Istanbul Biennial), September - November 2019
Laocoön (Philosopher), Laocoon Gallery, London, an exhibition of new works, September - October 2019
David Breuer-Weil at Christie’s: Flight (Monumental sculpture) at Marble Arch, London, June 2018 - November 2019
Stoic (David Breuer-Weil), sculpture, installed at 37 Conduit Street, London, 2019 - 2020
Airborne, an exhibition of new works, E & R Cyzer Gallery, London October - November 2018
Alien and Brothers (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculptures, St Pancras New Church, London, 2017 - 2019
Brothers and Brothers II (David Breuer-Weil), installed at Portman Square, London, 2017 - current
Visitor I (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, installed at Cavendish Square, London, 2017 - 2021
David Breuer-Weil at Christie’s: an exhibition of Monumental sculptures across London, June - July 2017
Animal Farm, Beastly Muses and Metaphors, Exhibition, Sotheby’s S|2, London, 2016
Out of Chaos Laing Art Gallery, Exhibition, Newcastle, UK, 2016 - 2017
Shaping Ceramics: From Lucie Rie to Edmund de Waal, Exhibition, The Jewish Museum, London, 2016 - 2017
Soul (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, Children’s Wing of Shaare Zedek Hospital, Jerusalem, 2016, Permanent Installation
Brothers (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, installed at Marble Arch, London, 2016
Alien (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, installed at Mottisfont (National Trust House), Hampshire, UK, September 2015 - November 2016
Emergence (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, installed in Portman Square, London, 2013 - 2017
Alien (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, installed in Grosvenor Gardens, London, 2013 - 2015
Centenary Exhibition: Out of Chaos – Ben Uri: 100 Years in London, Exhibition, Somerset House, London, 2015
Screening of the Breuer-Weil film: The King of Nerac (dir. Annie Sulzberger) at Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, UK, January 2015
David Breuer-Weil with Emergence installed in Hanover Square, London, 2012
David Breuer-Weil with Sister installed in Hanover Square, London, 2023
Selected exhibitions, works in Collections, Public Spaces and Film (continued)
Screening of the Breuer-Weil film: The King of Nerac (dir. Annie Sulzberger) at Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) in association with The New York Jewish Film Festival (NYJFF), New York City, USA, January 2015
Alien (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, 2014, Museo Berardo Collection, Lisbon, Portugal, Permanent Collection
Alien (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental Sculpture, Sotheby’s: Beyond Limits at Chatsworth, 2013
Jerusalem, Centre of the World (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, Teddy Kollek Park, Jerusalem, 2013, Permanent Installation
David Breuer-Weil: Project 4 Solo Exhibition, The Vaults, Waterloo, London, 2013
Emergence (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, Hanover Square, London, 2012,
Visitor I (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, Golders Hill Park Lily Pond, Hampstead Heath, London, 2012
Visitor I (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental sculpture, Cafesjian Museum of Art, Armenia, 2011, Permanent Collection
Visitor I (David Breuer-Weil), Monumental Sculpture, Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, UK, 2010 & 2011
David Breuer-Weil: Project 3, Solo Exhibition, The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, The London Jewish Museum of Art, Covent Garden, London, 2007
Closing the Door? Immigrants to Britain 1905-2005, Exhibition, The Jewish Museum, London, 2005
Select Bibliography
David Breuer-Weil Golden Drawings and The Coviad, Exhibition catalogue, The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, 2021
David Breuer-Weil Golden Drawings Book published by Gli Ori, Italy (ed. Paola Gribaudo), 2020
David Breuer-Weil: an exhibition of monumental sculptures, Exhibition catalogue, Christie’s, London, 2017
Animal Farm, Beastly Muses and Metaphors, Exhibition catalogue, Sotheby’s S|2, London, 2016
Q & A with David Breuer-Weil, Article, The Economist, 2016
David Breuer-Weil: Soul, Shaare Zedek, Catalogue, Jerusalem (ed. C. Craig, J. Bernstein), 2016
Highlights from the Ben Uri Collection, Catalogue, The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, London, 2015
Out of Chaos, Ben Uri: 100 Years in London, Exhibition catalogue, The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, London, 2015
Review of The King of Nerac, Article, Variety, London, 2015
Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, Exhibition catalogue, Sotheby’s, 2013
David Breuer-Weil: Jerusalem Centre of the World, Catalogue commissioned by the Jerusalem Foundation (ed. C. Craig), 2013
David Breuer-Weil: Project 4 Exhibition catalogue (sponsored by Artnet), London, 2013
David Breuer-Weil, Radical Visionary, A monograph on David Breuer-Weil, Book published by Skira, Milan, 2011
Beyond Limits, Sotheby’s at Chatsworth, Exhibition catalogue, Sotheby’s, 2010 & 2011
David Breuer-Weil: Project 3, Exhibition catalogue, The Ben Uri Gallery and Museum (supported by European Association for Jewish Culture, Seven Dials WC2, NCP and Brado Group), 2007
