Lars Breuer
Unter falscher Flagge (Under false flag)
07.06. - 20.07.2013
They are top secret, mostly illegal and traditionally carried out by secret services: the so-called covert operations. These imply military and political interventions that, generally speaking, are executed “under false flag” concealing the identity of their initiator. Propaganda, sabotage, disguised military aggressions or terror acts are instrumentalized to serve unofficial foreign-policy objectives. For his first solo show in Munich Lars Breuer approaches this complex subject by referring to historic and current incidents like the successful mission “Neptun’s Spear” which resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden (2011). Another example would be the sinking of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior by the French foreign intelligence service under the code name “Opération Satanique” (1985). The artist furthermore takes up “Operation Mongoose” (1961-1965), intended to eliminate the Castro regime, or “Gladio”, secret armies formed by the NATO and several secret services in Western Europa to commit acts of sabotage in case of an occupation by the Soviet Union. Lars Breuer arranges catchphrases of these secret operations in an extensive wall installation interpreting the terms as signets. The typographic layout developed by the artist stands out through a strictly rational geometry and a sharp contrast of color characteristically reduced to black and white. The wide range of the topic is not only reflected by the dynamic combination of text and image, but also shown in the variety of technically diverse methodologies: Thus, abstract and constructivist works are, for instance, in juxtaposition with an almost photorealistic painting of a meadow reminding of Albrecht Dürer’s “Great Piece of Turf” (1503). It is based on a photo Lars Breuer took in Troy – a mystical place from antiquity where the Greeks won the Trojan War through a “covert operation”. Apart from art history, Lars Breuer (*1974 in Aachen, lives and works in Cologne) studied Fine Arts and Painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. His thematic range is vast: The painter draws his inspiration from literature as much as from politics or art history relating to it in various ways. Lars Breuer has not only introduced his work to an international audience in cities like Sydney, Copenhagen, Zurich or Istanbul, but also presented his art in renowned German institutions, e.g. the Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, ZKM, Karlsruhe, and Museum Folkwang, Essen. In 2013, the artist recently exhibited at the Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung, Bonn. In addition to his own exhibition activities and as part of the artist group KONSORTIUM he ran with its co-founders Sebastian Freytag, Guido Münch and Jan Kämmerling an exhibition space of the same name in Düsseldorf from 2004 until 2012. Lars Breuer’s works can be found in private and public collections, such as Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, and Kunstverein/Städtische Galerie, Paderborn. In July 2013, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, will publish a comprehensive monograph on the artist documenting his oeuvre from 2001 to 2012. The artist will be present during the opening reception.
Esther Donatz
Nadine Seligmann Phone: +49 89 70 07 62 00
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