Berlin-based artist Björn Braun (b. 1979) transforms found objects, exposing the narrative potential of materials by way of slight interventions. Much of his work uses nature as a departure point as he often collaborates with birds, mice, or bees, turning the remnants of their activities – nests, burrows, abandoned eggs, and feathers – into sculptures. The process is tantamount to the resulting artwork, which is often determined by chance. A minimalist sensibility presides over Braun’s work, but is upended by his use of humble natural materials, drawing direct parallels to Arte Povera. Braun’s work also possesses a tongue-in-cheek, performative aspect of Beuysian alchemy as he often boils, mixes, and bakes organic material into their final sculptural forms. An economy of means presides over all of his work as nothing is ever discarded, only repurposed.
