JAN
ZÖller
artworks
About
Jan Zöller born in Haslach im Kinzigtal, (DE), 1992. Lives and works in Karlsruhe, (DE)
The works of Jan Zöller are full of references to the failure of modernist utopia, the German postwar modernity, and ultimately the collapse of turbo-capitalism. In his videos, actions, and paintings, or even with the formation of imaginary bands, Jan Zöller evokes the idea of an almost Masonic brotherhood, where work, art, and ritual are one, in which constructions and architectures, songs are also a kind of thought building, in which ideas, friendship, utopias manifest themselves. The fountains that repeatedly appear in his paintings, for example, embodied all sorts of (quite broken and interrupted) circuits, of money, creative energy, communication, and relationships. Zöller’s work speaks of the surrogate character of the established art world, which cannot satisfy actual needs for community and creativity, and in doing so tries to find more authentic, spiritual forms of art production.
As the anarchistic birds in his art are occupying fountains, bathrooms, and saunas to co-opt them as a new place for their community, in a similar way Zöller uses the broken system of the art world in his paintings to recreate the foundation for a new utopia.
Education
Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe, (DE)
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, (FR)
Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe, (DE)
Awards and Residencies
2021 Arbeitsstipendium der Stiftung Kunstfonds, (DE)
2019 Awarded for 24. Bundespreis für Kunststudierende, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, (DE)
2017 Postgraduate award: Academy of Finearts, Karlsruhe, (DE)
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2022 Kunstverein Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen, (DE)
2022 Kunstverein Heppenheim, Heppenheim, (DE)
2022 Will ich nichts verpassen, schließe ich die Augen, Galerie Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid, (ES)
2021 Jan Zöller and the Fire Spirits (Side A), Robert Grunenberg, Berlin, (DE)
2020 Keine Zeit zum Baden, Städtische Galerie, Ostfildern, (DE)
2019 Possibly There is a possibility that everything is possible, Meyer-Riegger, Robert Grunenberg Gallery, Berlin, (DE)
2019 SPA(sibo), DINAMIKA, Moscow, (RU)
2016 OPULENCE, Geschwisterraum, Karlsruhe, (DE)
2015 I saw people smoking crack on holidays, Mucharaum, Karlsruhe, (DE)
2014 100% pure kokain, Mucharaum, Karlsruhe, (DE)
Group Exhibitions
2022 Why can’t we live together, Sammlung Peters-Messer, Kunstmuseum Marburg und Marburger Kunstverein, Marburg, (DE)
2022 There is no sea but the sea, Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe, (DE)
2021 For Real?! Jahresgaben und Editionen, Kunstverein Reutlingen, (DE)
2021 6 + 3 = 1, Galerie Barbara Seiler, Zurich, (CH)
2020 En otro tiempo ibas muy elegante, Galerie Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid, (ES)
2020 Paranoia Strikes Deep, Osnova, Moscow, (RU)
2020 Sincere Intentions, Robert Grunenberg, Berlin, (DE)
2019 Arco Madrid, Meyer-Riegger, Madrid, (ES)
2019 ART Basel Miami, Meyer-Riegger, Miami, (US)
2019 24.Bundespreis für Kunststudierende, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, (DE)
2019 Zwei Alter: Jung, Galerie Crone, Berlin, (DE)
2019 ART Basel, Meyer-Riegger, Basel, (CH)
2019 You are here, Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, (DE)
past exhibitions
press
- 2023 Kunst ohne Grenzen: Museum in Schaffhausen zeigt aktuelle Malerei, Südkurier
- 2022 JAN ZÖLLER – VISITORS, kubaparis
- 2022 Wir sagen uns Dunkles – kuratiert von Christian Malycha, miettinen-collection
- 2022 Zehn Künstler im Kunstverein, gea
- 2022 Karlsruher Künstler Jan Zöller stellt in Heppenheim aus, echo-online
- 2021 Kunstverein Friedrichshafen zeigt Jan Zöller, architekturzeitung
- 2018 Numéro Homme Berlin, Herbst/Winter 2018, S. 123.
- 2018 Meisterschülerkatalog, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe