Martin Pöll’s work is based on natural materials; as formal idiom, as working material and as experiential space, nature serves him as repertoire from which he develops his sculptures. Pöll’s works frequently show profound combinations of form and material, such as casting a waterlily leaf from tree resin – which, on first sight, looks like the burned cross-section of a log –, or a piece of tree bark, leaning against the wall, shaped like corrugated metal. The individual steps of the process to make a raw material viable often become visible elements in Pöll’s exhibitions: from a bar of solid resin to bottled tree resin fumes, from terrazzo tiles with pieces of resin to resin schnapps served at the opening. His exhibitions all evolve around the combination of basic forms which derive from the geometric shapes found in his natural materials. Pöll combines these forms into static constructs of identical repetition which offer an unlimited potential for rearrangement and new composition. Martin Pöll (*1990 in South Tyrol) lives and works in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Work

  • ▹ fliegen lassen

  • ▹ Ode an einer Seerose IV

  • ▹ shapes

  • ▹ Sonne Mond und Sterne

  • ▹ Zapfen

  • ▹ Empreinte

  • ▹ Route de Meisenthal á Karlsruhe

  • ▹ confine

  • ▹ Ode an eine Seerose II

  • ▹ Indigo II

  • ▹ spruce seed

  • ▹ Remake »Springkraut«

  • ▹ Kuhfladen

  • ▹ hraun

  • ▹ If seeds could dream about their lives I

  • ▹ If seeds could dream about their lives II

  • Archive

Current

  • 12.07. – 11.08.2024

    »Michelin Kober & Martin Pöll«

    Friedrichsbau, Bühl

  • 22.06. – 23.06.2024

    »ist das schön«

    Unterjesingen

  • 03.03. – 27.04.2024

    »Ins Blaue hinein / into the blue«

    Galerie Löhrl, Mönchengladbach

  • 03.07. – 03.07.2032

    »Kunstweg am Reichenbach«

    Gernsbach

Group Exhibitions (Selected)

  • 20.02. – 25.02.2024

    »art Karlsruhe«

    presented by Prince House Gallery

  • 12.06. – 16.06.2023

    »dimostrare«

    AKKU Projektraum, Stuttgart

  • 04.05. – 07.05.2023

    »art Karlsruhe«

    presented by Prince House Gallery

  • 23.04. – 08.10.2023

    »scultura 23«

    Altes Dampfbad, Bade-Baden

  • 04.03. – 22.04.2023

    »TIERISCH«

    Galerie Löhrl, Mönchengladbach

  • 19.11. – 15.01.2023

    »Holzgeister«

    Forum Kunst, Rottweil

  • 26.10. – 13.01.2023

    »HEIMAT // SCHÖNE ALTE WELT«

    Prince House Gallery, Mannheim

  • 25.09. – 13.11.2022

    »5 Positionen junger Kunst«

    Altes Dampfbad, Baden-Baden

  • 17.07. – 22.07.2022

    »LionsArt «

    Alte Schildkrötfabrik, Mannheim

  • 14.05. – 03.07.2022

    »What do Landscapes dream of?«

    Tublà da Nives, Wolkenstein

  • 24.04. – 02.10.2022

    »scultura 22«

    Altes Dampfbad, Baden-Baden

  • 03.03. – 13.03.2022

    »In the Pines«

    Atelier 8, Alter Schlachthof 13A, 76131 Karlsruhe

  • 05.06. – 03.10.2021

    »50x50x50 everything for everyone«

    Festung Franzensfeste

  • 30.04. – 03.10.2021

    »Skulptur Südwest«

    Altes Dampfbad, Baden-Baden

  • 18.07. – 31.07.2020

    »Time to get hi«

    Zentrale, Karlsruhe

  • 04.12. – 18.01.2020

    »Revue - Jahresausstellung«

    Galerie HAAS & GSCHWANDTNER, Salzburg

  • 26.10. – 02.11.2019

    »Goldener Benjamin«

    Franklin, Mannheim

  • 19.10. – 09.11.2019

    »DAMPFßCHREINEREI«

    former steam carpentry, Karlsruhe

  • 18.10. – 20.10.2019

    »top to bottom«

    Luis Leu, Karlsruhe

  • 26.09. – 29.09.2019

    »UND# in Halle«

    Hühnermanhatten, Galerie Blech, Halle an der Saale

  • 09.08. – 04.09.2019

    »Ietz und Morgen«

    Bunker Museum, Moos in Passeier

  • 08.06. – 08.09.2019

    »50x50x50 ART SÜDTIROL«

    Fortress of Franzensfeste, Franzensfeste

  • 11.04. – 14.04.2019

    »24. Karlsruher Künstlermesse«

    regional council, Karlsruhe

  • 06.02. – 17.02.2019

    »237«

    Orgelfabrik, Karlsruhe

  • 27.10. – 11.11.2018

    »SANS TRANSITION«

    Artopie, Meisenthal

  • 24.08. – 26.08.2018

    »Ingredienti«

    Luis Leu, Karlsruhe

  • 22.07. – 19.08.2018

    »TOP_0018 Meisterschülerausstellung«

    Kunstverein Heidelberg, Heidelberg

  • 12.07. – 15.07.2018

    »Graduiertenausstellung«

    Sate Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe

  • 20.07. – 23.07.2017

    »UND#9«

    Dragoner - Kaserne, Karlsruhe

  • 14.06. – 18.06.2017

    »HÖHENLUFT#13«

    Kunstverein Wilhelmshöhe, Ettlingen

  • 12.05. – 13.05.2016

    »Archipelago«

    Port, Reykjavík

  • 15.01. – 31.01.2016

    »TRITREDRE «

    Orgelfabrik, Karlsruhe

Contact

Martin Pöll

Burgstraße 20
76646 Bruchsal


post@martinpoell.com
01726020407
Instagram (@martin__poelll)

Martin Pöll’s work takes its starting point from natural forms and materials, from the relation between his own body and nature, its movements in natural environments as well as in the sculptor’s workshop. Natural materials like tree resin, leaves, bark, clay or wood, and maple, spruce and balsam seeds are the basis of Pöll’s work, just as collecting and processing tree resin is an essential part of his work. The work process to make a particular raw material viable for further processing remains a central element when exhibiting the final objects. In order to prepare tree resin for casting sculptures, a lengthy process of boiling and refining is necessary. Resinating the material produces a number of byproducts which Martin Pöll integrates into his work. The exhibition “Sans Transition”, Meisenthal, 2018, for example, shows a pile of unrefined tree resin lying on the floor of the exhibition space; a pipe extrudes from the pile: a miniature resin burner, which evaporates the exact same smell that also accompanies Martin Pöll’s work, when processing tree resin in his workshop. Other exhibitions also include bars of resonated tree gum or resin vapor in form of essential oil (“Parfum”, 2019). In “time to get hi”, Zentrale Karlsruhe, 2020, Martin Pöll presents a stylized distillery on four steel legs. Here, the exhibition space itself serves as workshop where tree resin is being cleaned and refined into essential oil and vapor, which then – in form of small artist editions of distilled schnapps – become part of the exhibition.
Cast as sculpture, tree resin already had a central part in “Ode an eine Seerose I–IV”, 2017/18. For this work, Martin Pöll casts waterlily leaves of about 1,30m diameter in resin; in their new materiality and structure, the leaves resemble the burned cross-section of a tree. For the installation “Sonne, Mond und Sterne”, 2019, Pöll mixes granulated resin with plaster into a material for terrazzo-style floor tiles. The tiles are cast in precise shapes that will align and expand into unlimited, variable surfaces. Depending on context, setting and space, the theme of infinite variability appears in different versions in many of Martin Pöll’s exhibitions: in the ensemble “Sonne, Mond und Sterne”, 2019, as a wall hanging of Coccaloba leaves – gigantic leaves of a South American plant from the Botanic Garden – set against natural backlight; or in the in-situ piece “shapes”, 2019, for the exhibition “50x50x50 Freiräume – spazi liberi”, Festung Franzensfeste, South Tyrol, as a six-foot something spruce sculpture, geometrically assembled into an outdoor installation that might also serve as a weather shelter.
To work situational for a particular exhibition context is an essential part of Martin Pöll’s artistic practice. For “fliegen lassen”, 2019 – a four-meter clay sculpture, illustrating the flight of a maple seed – he collected the material on site, at the exhibition area: the Franklin compound in Mannheim, where the sculpture was later exhibited in one of the site’s oversized industrial buildings. Collecting the clay for this piece, just as the piles of resin Martin Pöll harvests for his work from the forest, implies an act of physical effort, a movement through the exterior world. In “Route de Meisenthal à Karlsruhe”, 2018, Martin Pöll‘s movements between Karlsruhe and Mannheim, where he drove regularly – though on different routes – for work, have been cast into a plaster sculpture that documents his physical motion through space.
In his tree resin sculptures – his primary working material – Martin Pöll creates elaborate plays on form and material: in the column “hraun”, 2017, the material resembles volcanic rock; by contrast, the smooth surfaces of “confine”, 2018, which follow the outlines of Lake Constance, Lake Garda and Lake Geneva, look more like epoxy, glass or water. Nature and the forest are fundamental resources for Pöll’s work; they are also his home: The installation “spruce seed”, AdBK, Karlsruhe, 2018, consists of an enormous, magnified spruce seed, a horizontal spiral modelled after the flight of a spruce seed, and a sheet of bark leaning against the wall, shaped like corrugated metal: enough to sit, to drink and to take shelter.
Martin Pöll (*1990 in South Tyrol) lives and works in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Group Exhibitions (Selected)

  • 20.02. – 25.02.2024

    »art Karlsruhe«

    presented by Prince House Gallery

  • 12.06. – 16.06.2023

    »dimostrare«

    AKKU Projektraum, Stuttgart

  • 04.05. – 07.05.2023

    »art Karlsruhe«

    presented by Prince House Gallery

  • 23.04. – 08.10.2023

    »scultura 23«

    Altes Dampfbad, Bade-Baden

  • 04.03. – 22.04.2023

    »TIERISCH«

    Galerie Löhrl, Mönchengladbach

  • 19.11. – 15.01.2023

    »Holzgeister«

    Forum Kunst, Rottweil

  • 26.10. – 13.01.2023

    »HEIMAT // SCHÖNE ALTE WELT«

    Prince House Gallery, Mannheim

  • 25.09. – 13.11.2022

    »5 Positionen junger Kunst«

    Altes Dampfbad, Baden-Baden

  • 17.07. – 22.07.2022

    »LionsArt «

    Alte Schildkrötfabrik, Mannheim

  • 14.05. – 03.07.2022

    »What do Landscapes dream of?«

    Tublà da Nives, Wolkenstein

  • 24.04. – 02.10.2022

    »scultura 22«

    Altes Dampfbad, Baden-Baden

  • 03.03. – 13.03.2022

    »In the Pines«

    Atelier 8, Alter Schlachthof 13A, 76131 Karlsruhe

  • 05.06. – 03.10.2021

    »50x50x50 everything for everyone«

    Festung Franzensfeste

  • 30.04. – 03.10.2021

    »Skulptur Südwest«

    Altes Dampfbad, Baden-Baden

  • 18.07. – 31.07.2020

    »Time to get hi«

    Zentrale, Karlsruhe

  • 04.12. – 18.01.2020

    »Revue - Jahresausstellung«

    Galerie HAAS & GSCHWANDTNER, Salzburg

  • 26.10. – 02.11.2019

    »Goldener Benjamin«

    Franklin, Mannheim

  • 19.10. – 09.11.2019

    »DAMPFßCHREINEREI«

    former steam carpentry, Karlsruhe

  • 18.10. – 20.10.2019

    »top to bottom«

    Luis Leu, Karlsruhe

  • 26.09. – 29.09.2019

    »UND# in Halle«

    Hühnermanhatten, Galerie Blech, Halle an der Saale

  • 09.08. – 04.09.2019

    »Ietz und Morgen«

    Bunker Museum, Moos in Passeier

  • 08.06. – 08.09.2019

    »50x50x50 ART SÜDTIROL«

    Fortress of Franzensfeste, Franzensfeste

  • 11.04. – 14.04.2019

    »24. Karlsruher Künstlermesse«

    regional council, Karlsruhe

  • 06.02. – 17.02.2019

    »237«

    Orgelfabrik, Karlsruhe

  • 27.10. – 11.11.2018

    »SANS TRANSITION«

    Artopie, Meisenthal

  • 24.08. – 26.08.2018

    »Ingredienti«

    Luis Leu, Karlsruhe

  • 22.07. – 19.08.2018

    »TOP_0018 Meisterschülerausstellung«

    Kunstverein Heidelberg, Heidelberg

  • 12.07. – 15.07.2018

    »Graduiertenausstellung«

    Sate Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe

  • 20.07. – 23.07.2017

    »UND#9«

    Dragoner - Kaserne, Karlsruhe

  • 14.06. – 18.06.2017

    »HÖHENLUFT#13«

    Kunstverein Wilhelmshöhe, Ettlingen

  • 12.05. – 13.05.2016

    »Archipelago«

    Port, Reykjavík

  • 15.01. – 31.01.2016

    »TRITREDRE «

    Orgelfabrik, Karlsruhe

Vita

  • 2018

    Masterclass at the Sate Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe by prof. Harald Klingelhöller

  • 2016

    Exchange Semester at Listaháskóli Ísland, Reykjavík by Ólafur Gíslason

  • 2012 – 2017

    Studies at the Sate Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe by prof. Harald Klingelhöller

  • 2011 – 2013

    Master of Wood Sculpturing, St. Ulrich

  • 2008 – 2011

    School of Wood Sculpturing, St. Ulrich

  • 2005 – 2008

    Art School Cademia, St. Ulrich

  • 1990

    born in St. Leonhard in Passeier

Publications

Contact

Martin Pöll

Burgstraße 20
76646 Bruchsal


post@martinpoell.com
01726020407
Instagram (@martin__poelll)

fliegen lassen (2019)
ceramics, iron; 400×85×85cm

Ode an einer Seerose IV (2019)
tree resin, iron; 2×71×66cm

shapes (2019)
spruce wood; 350×400×400cm

Sonne Mond und Sterne (2019)
resin tree, plaster; 4×160×160cm

Zapfen (2018)
textile; 90×33×33cm

Empreinte (2018)
ceramic; 2×23×23cm

Route de Meisenthal á Karlsruhe (2018)
plaster, iron; 50×145×60cm

confine (2018)
resin tree, iron; 3×70×30cm

Ode an eine Seerose II (2018)
resin tree, iron; 7×123×128cm

Indigo II (2018)
textile, scree printing plate, iron; 170×250×90cm

spruce seed (2018)
ceramic; 70×45×45cm

Remake »Springkraut« (2016)
textile, wood; 130×30×30cm

Kuhfladen (2018)
bronze; 12×48×35cm

hraun (2017)
resin tree, iron; 190×11×11cm

If seeds could dream about their lives I (2017)
resin tree, iron; 188×33×33cm

If seeds could dream about their lives II (2017)
bluebell leaf, epoxy resin; 190×32×32cm

11.04. – 14.04.2019
»24. Karlsruher Künstlermesse« regional council, Karlsruhe

06.02. – 17.02.2019
»237« Orgelfabrik, Karlsruhe

27.10. – 11.11.2018
»SANS TRANSITION« Artopie, Meisenthal

12.07. – 15.07.2018
»Graduiertenausstellung« Sate Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe

19.05. – 01.06.2019
»bekleiden« Kreis für Kunst und Kultur (circolo artistico e culturale), St. Ulrich

02.05. – 18.05.2018
»12. Akt Gegenüber« Alter Schlachthof, Karlsruhe

06.07. – 08.07.2017
»If seeds could dream about their lives« Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe

15.05. – 20.05.2017
»When air and ground come together« Sate Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe

15.01. – 31.01.2016
»TRITREDRE « Orgelfabrik, Karlsruhe