Olaf Breuning & Edgar Orlaineta: Yours or Mine?

This is looking like a major show for Carbon 12, with two of its mid-career stars; the gallery believes the works of Edgar Orlaineta (b.1972, Mexico) and Olaf Breuning (b.1970, Switzerland) “weave a captivating narrative of hybridity and environmental consciousness … Breuning’s woodcut paintings serve as poignant reminders of the delicate balance between the beauty of nature and the harsh realities of human-induced climate change, while Orlaineta’s sculptural forms, moulded through biomorphic shapes and post-war design, invite introspection on the meditative process of handmade creations”.

Orlaineta’s practice focuses on the relationship between art, craft and the industrial, with overarching themes of humour and craftsmanship – both of which he regards as very serious in their unseriousness, and are an important part of his conceptual and spiritual commitment to his work.

Breuning too can deploy humour, mostly as irony, but his work majors on the interconnectedness between human actions and the depletion of natural resources. For Breuning, humans have created a world that is too fast paced for even us to keep up with. In that, he simplifies his process to make his visual language more direct. The symbolism employed becomes universal, and the colours used become vulnerability expressed.

To 14 November.

Above: Edgar Orlaineta, The Charged Clouds (2020)