Karl Karner

Karl Karner (b.1973 in Feldbach, Austria) lives and works in Feldbach, Austria. Karner studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna under Professor Heimo Zobernig.

In his work Karl Karner opens up a broad discussion about objects, materiality, and space. Participatory impulses run through his work - viewers themselves become actors in the installations, and nature is given an essential role to develop freely in the environments the sculptures create. The unconventional, amorphous formal language of his sculptures is based on concrete models from the animal and plant world, such as mushrooms, branches, tree bark, or vineyard snails, which the artist combines into grotesque sculptural growths using casts.

His works are constantly changing structures that communicate with their surroundings - whether placed indoors or outdoors. They react to weather events and integrate them into their expression. This organic dynamic makes each installation unique and allows the sculptures to grow in dialog with the landscape.

His sculptures rethink spaces - not as territories of control, but as platforms for encounters and freedom.

Recent Exhibitions:

Forthcoming: Wasserspiele, Galerie Kandlhofer, Wien, AT; 2026: zweintopf wühlen durch das Depot des Galeristen Eugen Lendl und zeigen ihre Fundstücke in der Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill, Graz, AT; States of Becoming. Sammlung Cserni: Kunst aus Österreich, Kunsthaus Nexus, Saalfelden, AT; Blau, Galerie Sommer, Graz, AT. 2025: De Sculptura, Albertina Klosterneuburg, AT; Sculpture and Nature, Schlossgut Schwante, Schwante, DE; Cool. Sammlung Erwin Hauser, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, AT; Prequel Paris, presented by Parallel, Paris, FR; Shelf Life, Nectar Projects, Wien, AT; Doppelter Boden, Kunstraum Super, Wien, AT; Shored Against My Ruins, curated by 2025, Galerie Kandlhofer, Wien, AT; Bank Austria Skulpturenpark, created by André Heller, Wien, AT; Passion, Künstlerhaus, Wien, AT; Art Brussels, Monumental Sculpture Section, Brussels, BE. 2024: Fichtengrau, Galerie Kandlhofer, Wien, AT; Karl Karner Skulpturen, Tiefkühlhaus, Jennersdorf, AT; Wunderwald, Kugelmühle, Feldbach, AT; The Beat goes on, Kunsthalle Feldbach, AT; ein Original von … (VIII), Galerie Gölles, Fürstenfeld, AT.