VogtBernal presents Make It Last Forever, an exhibition by Breck Omar Brunson, hosted by Venetia Kapernekas Gallery.

Using mixed media, this immersive intervention by the artist will transform the gallery space in a critically liberating fashion. Inspired by Keith Sweat’s song Make it last forever Brunson deals with the mechanisms behind hermetic museum walls and upscale gallery spaces. As the hand of an artist transforms simple everyday objects into highly esteemed and valued art objects they enter the art world beginning a journey through dealers’ hands to private collectors and public collections. Concerns of conservation, insurance or restoration play a decisive role. The starting point can be found on shiny walls and floors of galleries, as you can find in Chelsea, New York’s main art district. Brunson inverts the usual process by preserving the place where the art is shown instead of the art pieces themselves. Brunson reflects this machinery by covering the whole space with commonly used art-wrapping utensils such as plastic foil. The drive to make art objects last forever no matter if they are made out of chocolate or street dirt is critically reflected by this approach.

The installation is accompanied by a sound piece wailing Make it last forever at a slowed, prolonged pace still recognizable as music but disguising its message as the words can not be understood. Brunson plays with viewer expectations and knows how to deceive or beat them.

Breck Brunson’s works very often take their origin from everyday observations and everyday objects that Brunson alters through subtle changes to give them a new meaning. The formation of values in the art world, the social positioning as well as the conflict of high and low stand at the core of his artistic practice.

Brunson studied visual arts at the Delaware College of Art and Design and the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, DC. So far he has been showing his work mainly in Washington. Brunson currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.