IMG 6993-001-Clouds

Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood, West Sussex.

Standing at over ten metres tall, Olaf Breuning’s Clouds compete with the towering treescape of Cass Sculpture Foundation. Held in place by rudimentary steel supports, the six cartoonish clouds are cut from polished aluminium and powder-coated in different hues of bright blue. Clouds is a permanent realisation of an earlier work in which Breuning used lifting cranes and boom lifts to elevate large blue cut-out drawings of clouds into the air for a momentary staged photograph. Their whimsical bulbous shapes and blue finishes are reminiscent of a child’s rendering of the sky or the set of a primary school play. Breuning’s Clouds harness this innocence to contrast with their surrounding environment. This naive depiction of the natural world provides a poignant counterpoint to the harsh realities of climate change created by human civilisation.