Michael Krondl is a Czech and Canadian artist living and working in New York City. His work explores the intersection of photography, installation and drawing.
His site-specific pieces typically use photographs of fragments of nature or the local environment. These are then manipulated (though both digital and analog means) to create large-scale images and, in turn, mounted on walls, billboards, screens and even floors in such a way that they transform space and architecture.
His drawings confront the viewer with nearly life-size imagery seemingly crossing the border between two- and three-dimensional space.
The subject of Krondl’s work is our troubled relationship with the natural world, as a society and as individuals. Many of his pieces have referenced the consequences of the climate emergency, primarily focusing on the impact of water and drought. The work is both personal and political.
While the pieces clearly address the climate crisis, Krondl is less interested in eliciting a rational, reasoned response from the audience. Instead, he is looking for a personal, physical--even visceral--reaction from the viewer that bypasses higher intellectual functions and goes directly for the midbrain.
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS & PUBLIC COMMISSIONS:
2022
Meltwater (Rocky Mountains), Green Box Arts, Green Mountain Falls, CO
Meltwater (Alps), Atelier Freiraum, Salzburg, Austria
2019
Tide, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Station, CA
2016
Souvenir of a Mountain Garden, Greenville-Spartanburg Airport, SC; commissioned by Greenville Spartanburg Airport
2015
Splash-Guildford, Guildford Recreational Centre, Surrey, Canada; commissioned by the City of Surrey
Thaw, Canadian Can Building, Montreal, Canada; commissioned by Time Equities
2011
Variation in Silver and White, Lionshead Welcome and Transportation Center, Vail, CO; commissioned by the Town of Vail
Splash, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York
2007
Fall, Black and White Gallery, New York.
2006
Rising Water/Falling Water, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY
2005
Wave, Black and White Gallery, New York
2004
After the Flood, Rosenberg Gallery, Hofstra University, Hempstead
2003
Waterwalk/Po hladině, Synagoga na Palmovce Art Center, Prague, Czech Republic, the piece was commissioned by the Center for Contemporary Art in Prague
2002
Looking Up, Neptune Avenue Subway Station Commission, MTA Arts for Transit, New York
2001
Tiepolo Project: 47 West Street, Time Equities Art in Buildings Program, New York (budget: $24,000)
1998
Gallery 44, Toronto, Canada
1995
ID Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany
1994
Saint Peter’s Church, New York
Gallery 44, Toronto, Canada
1992
I.D. Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany
1991
Andreas Weiss Galerie, Berlin, Germany
1990
I.D. Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany; catalog
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
(* art in public places)
2024
*Art on the Edge, Pier16, New York (commissioned by the Waterfront Alliance in partnership with the South StreetSeaport Museum)
Tree Stories, Sasse Museum of Art, Pomona, CA
2023
Points of Return, The Umbrella Arts Center, Concord, MA
Art X Climate, U.S. Global Change Research Program, included in the Fifth National Climate Assessment, in collaboration with the Smithsonian, NOAA, NSF and FEMA.
2022
*Art on the Streets, Colorado Springs, CO
Points of Return, online exhibition curated by A la luz, https://www.pointsofreturn.org
2021
*Same Sky/Même Ciel, Chapelle Sainte-Lucie, Mirmande, France
En Plein Air Reloaded: Green Fuse, Black and White Gallery, Southhampton, NY
2018
Beyond the Brush, Black and White Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2017
DocuFlorida, Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola, FL
2015
Wall, Lesley Heller Gallery, New York
2013
Natural Selection, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn; catalog
2010
*Green Light II, Bank of America Plaza, Charlotte, NC
Curate NYC, Rush Arts Gallery, New York
2006
The Elements: Water, The Gallery of Contemporary Art, Sacred Heart University, Stanford, CT
*Out of Context, The Fields Sculpture Park, Art OMI, Ghent, NY
2005
*Meteorologic Phenomena, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY
2004
*Sculpture at Evergreen, Evergreen House, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; catalog (approximate budget: $3000)
2003
Decade, Schroeder Romero Gallery, New York
Water, Water, Rotunda Gallery, New York
2001
Going Home, Hopper House Art Center, Nyack; catalog
2000
*Environmentally Concerned 2, Bronx River Art Center and Gallery, New York
Hunt, OCCC, Demarest, NY
Alternative Processes in Photography, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, New York
*The Space around the Architect, Socrates Sculpture Park, New York Art/Omi, Ghent, NY
1999
Emulsion, Zao Gallery, New York
Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto, Canada
1998
Rotunda Gallery, New York
Žatva, Center for Metamedia/Hermit Foundation, Plasy, Czech Republic
1997
North York, New York, North York Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1996 Photog, Sauce Gallery, New York
Sub Rosa, Joyce Goldstein Gallery, New York
1995
Selections from the Permanent Collection, North York Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1994
ID Galerie zu Gast im Kunstverein Lingen, Lingen Kunstverein, Lingen, Germany; catalog
Düsseldorfer Mappe I, ID Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany
1993
The Dream Screen, Tribeca 148 Gallery, New York; catalog
Ohne Rosen geht es nicht, Wewerka Galerie, Berlin, Germany
1992
Salon of the Mating Spiders, Herron Test-Site Gallery, New York
The Last Rose of Summer, Galerie Wanda Reiff, Amsterdam, Netherlands Ohne Rosen geht es nicht, Galerie Wanda Reiff, Maastricht, Netherlands
Salon ‘92, Tribeca 148 Gallery, New York
1991
Vier Kunstler aus New York, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, Königswinter, Germany; catalog
Fotografische Arbeiten, I.D. Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany
1990
Summer in the City, I.D. Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany
1989
Four Artists, Soho Center for Visual Artists, New York
Alles Neu Macht Der Mai, I.D. Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany; catalog 1988
Armature, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Canada; catalog
Other Gallery, Banff, Canada
EDUCATION
Graduate Center, City University of New York, Master of Liberal Studies, 2022
Cooper Union, BFA, 1984
AWARDS
Canada Council Explore and Create Grant, 2023
Artslink Grant, 2003
Canada Council Travel Grant, 2003
Fellowship, Socrates Sculpture Park, 2000
Canada Council Travel Grant, 1998
Canada Council “B” Grant, 1997
Canada Council “B” Grant, 1994
Canada Council Short Term Grant, 1994
Canada Council Short Term Grant, 1992
Canada Council Project and Travel Grant, 1991
Canada Council Travel Grant, 1990
Canada Council Project Grant, 1989
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
Green Box Arts, Green Mountain Falls, CO, 2022
Atelier Freiraum, Salzburg, Austria, 2022
Baer Arts Center, Hofsós, Iceland, 2018
Provincetown Compact, Provincetown, MA, 2014
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Swing Space Program on Governor’s Island, New York, 2010
Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic, 2003
ART/OMI, Ghent, NY, 2000
Center for Metamedia/Hermit Foundation, Plasy, Czech Republic, 1998
Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Canada, 1988