1000 Breath Paintings

The delicacy of our lives hangs on our breath.

These works are made by painting a single gold brush stroke with each exhaled breath. An ‘in’ breath is first taken and then the stroke is painted in time with the exhaled ‘out’ breath.

The work focuses on the energy exuded from ‘breath’. The act of painting this solitary line becomes ceremonial, after months of strokes the work builds up its layers (1000 in total).

The intention of this work is to show the transference of creative energy into a physical ‘passing of time’ – breath is every person’s fundamental life force, and the exhalation of breath has long been associated with many forms of ‘spirit’ practised with meditation and physical exercise. Artists make the intensive creative work with the exhalation of breath….

When the painting is complete, in some works the painting is removed from the canvas and has built up to become a sculpture, allowing the viewer to hold the breath of the artist in their own hands.

Carlo Brandelli + Ewa Wilczynski 2021