Artist using a variety of media; teacher; administrator. Born in Derby, Breakwell studied at the local College of Art, 1961–5, after which he attended the West of England College of Art, Bristol. In 1967 he staged his performance Restaurant Operations at Exeter Festival and Bristol Arts Centre. In 1969 Unword 1 was staged at Compendium Bookshop, Unword 2 following at ICA. By then Breakwell had established his preoccupation with the relationship between word and image, which was to appear in many forms in ensuing years. After being visual arts director at Bristol Arts Centre, 1967–8, Breakwell taught at Somerset College of Art, 1969–73. Other examples of the artist’s output were: one-man shows at Angela Flowers Gallery, Arnolfini Gallery and Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh; the making of the films Repertory and The Journey in the 1970s; and his publication of Diary Extracts, Continuous Diary and Fiction Texts.

Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)


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