BASEL.- Von Bartha is presenting two solo exhibitions, by New York based artists Sarah Oppenheimer and Olaf Breuning in the gallery’s Basel space, opening 13 May to 30 July 2022 and coinciding with Art Basel in June. Invoking von Bartha’s longstanding engagement with kinetic art, Sarah Oppenheimer’s work introduces the human motor as an agent of phased movement. For Breuning’s second solo exhibition at von Bartha, the artist displays a new series of paintings in dialogue with his sculptures in the gallery’s north space.

Known for the manipulation of the built environment, Oppenheimer’s latest work, N-02, consists of three interconnected ‘instruments,’ each composed of an elongated black aluminium bar and two linear lighting tracks. Arrayed across the ceiling, lamps weave between gallery walls. Black bars interrupt the wall’s white surface.

Visitors are invited to manually manipulate each instrument. Sliding a black bar modulates the position of overhead lights. Touch animates the environment, creating cyclical patterns of change. Elongated black lines merge and separate while luminous stripes of light rise and fall. Gestures overlap and intersect. The energy of human motion intertwines with the frequencies of the environment. As sunlight diminishes and day becomes night, the gallery’s reflective façade is transformed into a transparent window. Light diffuses across the building membrane, and the radiance of the oscillating instruments spills into the street.

Marking a return to Switzerland for Olaf Breuning, the artists’ second solo exhibition titled Two Lakes at von Bartha, Basel, presents a new vibrant body of work comprising of several large, tactile paintings placed in dialogue with three stone sculptures. Known for his humorous approach, Breuning uses the world around us to question and initiate conversations about nature itself. For his latest exhibition, the artist displays a new series of paintings, in which he playfully addresses pressing subject matters such as global warming, and environmental disruption. The works on show, which convey Breuning’s multi-layered oeuvre, including, large block woodcuts, paintings and sculptural installations, have been inspired by the artists’ surroundings in upstate New York, encompassing trees, raindrops and flora and fauna. Using a technique, where he brusquely carves into the woodblocks, the landscape motifs are pressed against the picture plane with thick swashes of saturated acrylic paint using highly vibrant colour to bring nature to life and open up questions about how humans interact with the environment and the direct effect we have on it. Placed alongside these large-scale woodblocks on the colourfully painted gallery walls, are three sculptural works of animals carved out of stone. The sculptures physical presence are sad and depressive, with frowning faces– a reminder that animals don’t have a say in the role humans play in nature.

Sarah Oppenheimer

b. 1972 in Austin, USA / Lives and works in New York, USA
Sarah Oppenheimer (b. 1972, USA) is an architectural manipulator. Recent solo projects include Sensitive Machine (Wellin Museum of Art, 2021), N-01 (Kunstmuseum Thun 2020), S-337473 (Mass MoCA 2019), S-337473 (Wexner Center for the Arts 2017), S-281913 (Pérez Art Museum Miami 2016), S-399390 (MUDAM Luxembourg 2016) and 33-D (Kunsthaus Baselland 2014).Her work has been exhibited at such venues as ZKM, the Baltimore Museum, the Andy Warhol Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Art Unlimited at Art Basel, the Mattress Factory, the Drawing Center, and the Sculpture Center. Oppenheimer is currently a senior critic at the Yale University School of Art.

Olaf Breuning

b. 1970 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland / Lives and works in Upstate New York
Olaf Breuning (b. 1970, Switzerland) made a name for himself through a multi-layered oeuvre that questions contemporary reality. Since the early 2000s, he created ambivalent photographs and installations that undermine a simple reading of the surrounding world. Recently, Breuning has begun a new series of paintings, in which he playfully addresses pressing subjects such as global warming. The artist currently lives in Upstate New York. He had solo shows at NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Chisenhale Gallery, London; and the Paul Klee Museum, Bern. He participated in the 2008 Whitney Biennial and showed in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pompidou Center, Paris; Haus der Kunst, Munich; Kunsthalle Zurich; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Jeu de Paume, Paris; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Whitechapel Gallery, London; and the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo.