The New Generation
* with Elisa Breyer

with Monica De Vidi

The health crisis of 2020 effected people’s life all over the world dramatically. While used to the openness and fast paced rhythms of globalization, everyone was forced by Covid-19 to start social distancing, isolation and deceleration. Physical contact, confrontation, possibility of sharing feelings and exchanging thoughts, this is what people missed, and still do, in the uncertainty of this phase. German artist and designer Elisa Breyer represents one of those creative voices that have been able to transform this suffering into visual language.

With the project Platonic Romance, Breyer shows a recognizable and comforting universe of daily objects, expressing warmth and closeness to other human beings.

Exhibition, Schiesshaus Weimar, 2020 seen by Jannis Uffrecht — Exhibition, Schiesshaus Weimar, 2020
seen by Jannis Uffrecht

YOU USE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES, OIL PAINTING AND TEXTILES ARE YOUR LEXICON. WHY DO YOU CHOOSE THEM?
Working with textiles for me felt very natural. My mother is a textile designer, and my childhood was like an apprentice in tailoring. As a kid I had the chance to practice with weaving, dyeing and painting with watercolors, and nowadays I still consider textiles irreplaceable, despite digital and technological progress.
In parallel, I think it’s funny to perform figurative painting in 21st century, I see this as a challenge. What I do is to reinterpret classical formats combining them with modern tools, such as Photoshop and its possibilities of multi layering, or smartphones, whose verticality affects even my compositions.

TEXTILES ARE MEANT TO BE TOUCHED. BUT LOOKING AT YOUR PAINTINGS, IT SEEMS YOU EMPHASIZE THIS TACTILE ASPECT WITH THEM, TOO. WHAT KIND OF EXPERIENCE DO YOU SUGGEST, AND WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?
I establish a direct contact with materials because I work with my hands, I feel them. I try to transmit to the public this same sensory experience, and this not only with textiles, where haptic plays a huge role, but also with paintings. Standing in front of one of my paintings is a different experience from looking at it in Instagram, and we all understood this difference during the months of pandemic.
As an artist, I show and question the time we live in, and I address my art to people who can recognize themselves in this research.

WHERE DOES THE INSPIRATION COME FROM, ART OR DESIGN AND FASHION?
I’ve always wanted to enter fashion, but the world behind it seems so disrespectful. I realized that I am interested in the way people express themselves, far from trends, but with reference to the comfort and familiarity of garments. I am curious about everything that can create identity, from clothing to language. I am an observer, I look at living environments, at empty rooms, where simple things attire my attention.

.artist talk
Elisa Breyer
speaks with
Monica De Vidi
first published in:
issue 30, 01/2021

Elisa Breyer To be good or to be good at it, 2020 seen by Philipp Niemeyer — Elisa Breyer
To be good or to be good at it, 2020
seen by Philipp Niemeyer

IN 2018 YOU HAD A COLLABORATION IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY. YOU WORKED TOGETHER WITH THE TEXTILE DESIGNER NADINE GÖPFERT ON THE COLLECTION BASIC FIT, PROMOTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW ALTERNATIVE SIZING SYSTEM FOR CLOTHING, AND EMBRACING A MORE NEUTRAL AND BODY-POSITIVE PERSPECTIVE. CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE COLLECTION?
I’ve been so lucky to work with Nadine. For her, good design is sustainable design, therefore we worked on a collection that consists only of classic pieces of high quality, meant to last. With the Collection Basic Fit we stated that all body sizes should be treated equally, and for this we proposed only two sizes, a tight fit and a loose fit, deriving exclusively from different processing methods. For example, The Classic Turtleneck is knitted from the same amount of wool in both sizes, but one is ripped and one is plain knit; the tight fit of The Classic Coat, also in wool, is felted at a higher temperature; The Paper Bag suit has two sizes in one, you can just fold it as you wish.

Personally, I have no problems finding my size in shops, but it’s not the same for everybody, and I feel the responsibility to recognize my privileges. People do not have to transform their shapes, but society has to change.

ANOTHER COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE YOU MADE IS THE EDITORIAL PROJECT JOURNAL OF A FRIENDSHIP (2019), BUILT WITH REAL FRIENDS OF YOURS, AND ONCE AGAIN FOCUSED ON HUMANITY. WHERE’S THE BALANCE BETWEEN COMMERCIAL NEEDS AND CREATIVE HUMANISTIC VISION?
I will never forget some words I heard, saying that we are baking bread and cakes, with bread we pay the rent and with cakes we enjoy the making. Journal of a Friendship was definitely a cake, but it’s important to maintain a balance. I prefer to work with people I love, it’s safe to share thoughts, and I grow spiritually and intellectually. We should always remember why we are doing what we are doing, and stay faithful to our own ethics. For me this means respect for the planet and diversity.

YOU STUDIED AT BAUHAUS UNIVERSITY IN WEIMAR, WHERE YOU ALSO GUIDED THE TEXTILE WORKSHOP. OBVIOUSLY, THERE’S A LINE OF CONTINUATION WITH THE BAUHAUS, THE SCHOOL THAT CONNECTED CREATIVITY AND TECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO INDUSTRY, GIVING SHAPE TO THE MODERN DESIGN. AS PER YOUR OWN PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN THIS INSTITUTE, HOW DO YOU FEEL IT WORKS NOWADAYS? ARE ALL DISCIPLINES CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER, OR IS EACH FIELD AUTONOMOUS? IN LINE WITH YOUR NEW ISSUE’S THEME, AUTONOMY, I’D LIKE YOU TO EXPLORE THE LEGACY OF THE BAUHAUS’ PHILOSOPHY OF HARMONY AMONG DISCIPLINES, OR TO EXPLAIN IF THERE’S MORE INDEPENDENCY AMONG THEM.
Weimar is such a tiny city, everybody knows each other and there’s an intense fertile exchange among students. At university, some faculties, such as architecture or engineering, are more autonomous, but collaborations are always inspiring and eye opening. Confrontation is stimulating, but it’s important to have a personal point of view, also when facing human feelings like competition or envy, these are natural when working together.
It was easy for me to be autonomous, I was the only one painting in my circle, but spending time with others made an impact on me. I even reached the point I started to copy my friend’s photography, but here the issues of authorship are crucial.

I’D LIKE TO SPEAK ABOUT YOUR PROJECT PLATONIC ROMANCE, IT APPEARS AS A MIRROR POINTED AT 2020. YOU DEPICTED COLORFULLY AN IRONICALLY A REALITY MADE OF FAMILIAR AND RECOGNIZABLE OBJECTS BELONGING TO OUR DAILY LIFE - EITHER SINGULARLY IN STILL LIFES OR ACCOMPANIED BY HUMAN PROTAGONISTS, WHO COULD BE ANY OF US. HOW DID THE PROJECT START?
The project started in March, during the first lockdown. Like others, my daily life significantly changed. Physical contact became a luxury and the living spaces suddenly played a different role, from residence to office, kindergarten, school, gym. I wondered how to keep hope and perseverance, so I started to focus on representing interpersonal warmth and closeness, and the memory and certainty of these.
I painted a series that consists of two parts. With large format portraits, I showed loving and yet so alienated togetherness, while with smaller scale still lifes, placed in the living room, I intended objects and corners as signs of domestic isolation.

HOPEFULLY 2021 WILL SEE THE END OF COVID-19 CHAPTER. CAN YOU TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR NEXT PROJECTS?
I am moving to Vienna to finish my studies at the Fine Arts Academy, where I hope I’ll be able to work in new exhibitions and to meet new people and to stay safely with my 91 year-old grandmother.

credit header image

Elisa Breyer
Schiesshaus Weimar, 2020
seen by Jannis Uffrecht