Karl A. Meyer

Karl Andreas Meyer (born July 23, 1958) also known as KAM, is a Swiss painter and sculptor from Basel.

Life and work Karl A. Meyer came from a family that owned a printing business. Aware of their son's sensibilities, his parents sent Meyer to a Rudolf Steiner school, where he adopted an interest in geology and biology, as well as art and dance. He reluctantly went on to study law and business but also studied at the Basel School for Applied Art. His early works included large-scale woodcuts inspired by Hopi iconography. At this time, the East Village art movement was emerging, in which Meyer participated through exhibitions and publications. He shared a studio at Crosby 66 with Roland Hagenberg and occasionally other artists such as Claudio Knöpfli.

Since 2010, KAM has taken part in the Raiding Project, initiated by Roland Hagenberg, where he exhibited alongside artists including Hiroshi Hara, Ai Weiwei, and Terunobu Fujimori. One of his notable contributions to this project was Cloud of Humanity, an installation of 15,000 clay figurines that has been presented in several exhibitions in Austria and abroad. From this project large-scale sculptures developed, such as Birdman, which was installed in 2015 in Raiding, the birthplace of Franz Liszt.

KAM's work is characterized by large-scale woodcuts and recurring symbolic motifs. From 1986 he started painting on sheets of lead, sometimes first exposing the sheets to rain water or soft drinks, to create patterns from oxidization, and then painting on the sheets in blue-turquoise acrylic. particularly petroglyphs, which influenced his early woodcut works. Repetition of figures and symbols forms a central element in his woodcuts and drawings. According to Meyer, the significance of his work lies in direct aesthetic experience rather than analytical interpretation.

Selected Exhibitions Solo Exhibitions 1987: Karl A. Meyer Works, Littmann Gallery, Basel 1987: Karl A. Meyer – Bilder, Zeichnungen und persische Miniaturen, Ittingen Charterhouse, Canton of Thurgau, Switzerland 1988: Karl A. Meyer, Not Vital. Swiss Institute Contemporary Art New York 2013: Hiroshi Hara and Karl A. Meyer, Raiding Project, Raiding, Austria 2014: Birdman, Installation, Raiding Foundation, Austria 2014: Africa, 5000 clay ships, Raiding Foundation, Austria 2016: Ein Schiff wird kommen, Installation, Raiding Foundation, Austria 2018: Favela Portraits, Polaroid Exhibition in Rio de Janeiro 2024: RIO Love an Life in Times of Executions – Favela Portraits (Art Miami) Licht Feld Gallery, Basel 2025: Koyaanisqatsi – Hopi: Life out of Balance, filter4, Basel

Group exhibitions 1984: Large Works, with Edward Brezinski, Roni Horn, Hunt Slonem and others, Brabara Braathen Gallery, New York 1985: East Village Funktional, with Kenny Scharf, Rhonda Zwillinger, Mark Kostabi and others, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York 1985: Art against AIDS, with Arman, Christo, Mark DiSuvero, Tom Butter and others, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York 1986: Children's Coloring Book Drawings for UNICEF, group exhibition with Keith Haring, Richard Serra, Tom Wesselmann, Christo, Richard Hambleton and others, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York 1986: Artists of Barbara Braathen Gallery, with Donald Lipski, Ed Brezinski, Hunt Slonem and others, The Limelight, New York 1987: Multiple Visions – East Village Artists, with Rhonda Wall, Philip Pocock, Rick Prol, Paul Benny, Richard Hambleton and others, Art Now Gallery, Gothenbourg 2001: Lichtfeld 1, 30 Artistic Positions, Central Switzerland Platform for Contemporary Art, Sulzer-Burckhardt-Areal Gundeldinger Feld, Basel 2001: Holzschnitt heute, Mühlestall Allschwil, Switzerland 2003: Licht Feld 3, Gundeldinger Feld, Basel, Switzerland 2004: Licht Feld 4: Kunst aus der Schweiz, Deutschland und Österreich, Basel, Switzerland 2013: Biennale Licht Feld, Basel, Switzerland 2013: Kunstfabrik Groß Siegharts, Wien, Austria

Selected Publications