Olaf Breuning’s Good News Bad News (2008) looks at how the unrelenting flow of press coverage, news and gossip has an impact on personal and collective identity. His multifaceted tableau vivant depicts a crowd of people whose bodies and faces are completely covered by newspaper, as if their identities are defined by the information they consume. The 50 people in the photograph lack individuality, but as a group form a powerful entity. Digital photography’s ability to quickly convey information is helping to transform the world into a global village. Although Breuning’s image was shot in Trento, with Italian newspapers, it could be anywhere; the work fits seamlessly into the mediascape of Toronto. Breuning’s work suggests a new global personality is being created, but leaves it up to the viewer to decide if this is good or bad news.

Olaf Breuning (born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, 1970) employs everyday objects to create artworks inspired by media, mass culture and the Internet. Breuning’s work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at Chisenhale Gallery, London (2005), migros museum für gegenwartskunst, Zürich (2007), and the Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney (2007). Breuning lives in New York, where he is represented by Metro Pictures.

Presented in partnership with The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery.

Olaf Breuning will also be participating in The Power Plant’s summer exhibition, Adaptation, June 18 – September 12.

Curated by Bonnie Rubenstein