About Him

Martin Roth was born 1977 In Graz, Austria. After having a serious accident at the age of 16 he started to express himself through various forms of art partlcularly painting. He worked several years in design at an advertising agency in Austria before moving to New York where he shifted all his energy towards the creation of art. He completed a certificate In Computer Design at Parsons – School of Design and attended classes in video art, animation, silkscreen printing and sound editing at the School of Visual Arts. This all gave the young artist a solid basis to take a new post in Karlsruhe, Germany in the Centre for Art and Media. Despite this his first exhibition took place in New York in 2000 in the Bloom Ballroom. At the same time he was forging ahead with his designing creativity as shown in Nylon Magazine. His work is shown on the web at PaulGall.com and Fluirart.com. ArtYears.com published an interview in July 2002. In January 2003 he showed a video projection as a side project at the opening of Graz 2003 – Cultural Capital of Europe. In May 2003 he showed paintings at the launch party for “Animal New York Magazine” at Show Nightclub in NY. His paintings were also featured In the Atlantis/Summer Issue of Animal Magazine. In August 2003 his paintings were shown in a group show at the White Box / Annex Gallery In New York. Later in 2004 his works where displayed at the Ward Nasse Gallery in New York and at the Apart Gallery in London. In the summer 2003 Martin Roth returned to Austria for the International Summer Academy in Salzburg and took part In a workshop with the artist Rivka Rinn. In September he had his first solo show In Austria at the Gallery Kandinsky In Vienna. In recognition of outstanding talent he was presented this year with an award of excellence by Manhattan Arts Internatlonal in the “20th Anniversary ” Competition.

Martin Roth’s work was deeply influenced by an exploration of the relationship between humans and nature. He often incorporated living elements into his installations, such as grass, snails, and birds, which served as symbolic representations of the ways humans attempt to domesticate and control nature. His works encouraged viewers to engage with themes of transience, human intervention in natural processes, and the fragility of ecological systems. Living in New York, he was fascinated by the city as a dynamic and ever-changing environment. For Roth, New York resembled an organic entity, constantly evolving, growing, and transforming – while also decaying in some areas only to be reborn in others. This dual nature, the intersection of creation and decay, was often reflected in his art. Roth’s pieces were not merely installations, they were “living sculptures” designed to embody the natural lifecycle as an artistic medium. His aim was frequently to prompt people to reflect on the impacts of their actions on the environment and to reconsider the boundaries between nature and culture.

EXHIBITIONS

2024: Künstlerhaus Wien, ‘What we make of our environment and how we have “tamed” it’, Vienna
2023: Kunsthaus Graz, ‘You can see more from far away’ , Graz
2021: Kunsthaus Graz, Steiermark Schau, Graz
2017-2021: Newburgh, ‘Martin Roth transformed a ruin in New York into a garden for a plant concert’, New York
2019: Kunst Haus Wien, ‘In october 2019 I listened to animals imitating humans’, Museum Hundertwasser, Vienna
2018: Paralell, ‘Untitled (Value of trades)’, Vienna
2018: Yours, mine & ours, ‘In November 2017 I collected a plant from the garden of a mass shooter’, New York
2017: Cuevas and Tilleard, ‘In September 2017 I made the street listen to the market’, New York
2017: Austrian Culture Forum, ‘In March 2017 I culticated a piece of land in Midtown Manhattan nurtured by tweets’, New York
2017: Biquini Wax, ‘In Febuary 2017 I built a Donad Judd but cucarachas snuck into it’, Mexico City
2016: Capital Gallery, ‘Untitled (Persian Rug)’, San Francisco
2016: Dittrich & Schlechtriem, ‘Untitleds’, Berlin
2016: Louis B. James, ‘In August 2007 I drove a fly from Italy to Germany’, New York
2015: Louis B. James, ‘Untitled (Debris)’, New York 
2015: Reinisch Contemporary, ‘Untitled (Environments)’, Graz 
2014: Paralell art fair, Vienna
2014: mumok, ‘The Present of Modernism’, Vienna
2014: Naturkundemuseum, Graz
2014: Kamakura Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan
2013: Art Basel, ‘Persian Rug’, Miami Beach
2013: Rothschild 69, Tel Aviv, Isreal
2013: Louis B. James, ‘Untitled (Bonsai)’, New York
2012: Billboard International /MOCAK, Auschwitz, Poland
2012: Reinisch Contemporary, ‘Second Nature’, Graz
2012: Louis B. James, ‘Untitled (Persian Rug)’, New York
2011: SOMA, ‘Pigeons 28’, Mexico City
2009 January: DOM IM BERG, ‘Soundscape’, Graz, Austria (solo show)
2008 July: SOHO IN OTTAKRING, ‘Stiller Marktschrei’, Vienna, Austria (group show)
2007 July: FIRST FLOOR GALLERY, ‘Earth Paln-t’, New York
2007 June: HIART GALLERY, ‘Selling Out’, New York (solo show)
2007 May: Protest Space, ‘Time’s up’, New York (group show)
2006 December: NEUE GALERIE, ‘Foerderungspreis’, Graz, Austria (group show)
2005 December: BRICK 5, ‘Ueberfluten’, Vienna (group show)
2005 September: ORF GALLERY, ‘prels:wert’, Graz, Austria (solo show)
2005 August: STADTMUSEUM, ‘Der grosse Baer’, Graz, Austria (group show)
2005 April: PAULA PARR Chelsea, ‘New York Art Generation’, New York (group show)
2005 May: HIART GALLERY, ‘Show me the Money’, New York (solo show)
2004 September: HIART GALLERY, ‘Sold’, New York (solo show)
2004 June: GALLERY TATZL, ‘United We Spend’, Graz, Austria (solo show)
2004 April: Peace and Culture campaign, Prague (group show)
2004 March-April: APART GALLERY, London (group show)
2003 December: Peace and Culture campaign, Budapest (group show)
2003 September: GALLERY KANDINSKY, ‘Happy Painting Paranoia’, Vienna, Austria (solo show)
2003 August: THE ANNEX/White Box, ’18 Wheeler and Two Spares’, New York (group show)
2003 July-August: WARD-NASSE GALLERY, New York (group show)
2001 December: BLOOM BALLROOM, ‘OpenExit’, New York (solo show)

EDUCATION

2006-2009: HUNTER COLLEGE, Master Degree
2007: SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, Class in electro mechanical sculpture
2003: SUMMER ACADEMY SALZBUG, “Das bewegte Bild” / Classes with Rivka Rinn
1999-2002: SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, Classes In Macromedla Director, Drawing, Video, Pro Tools, Paint&. Content, Ideas In Art, Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools and Slikscreen Printing
2001: One month language school, Don Quijote, Barcelona
2000: Action/Cut, Directing FIim & TV Seminar, New York
2000: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, Course In Spanish
1998-1999: PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN: Certificate In Computer Design
1998: Five months language school, Embassy CES, New York
1997: Final apprenticeship examination with distinction (commercial apprenticeship); Graz, Austria
1988-1993: Secondary school “A” level, BG/BRG Gleisdorf, Austria

For a month (July to August 2013), the artist disappeared from his regular routine and lived in the European countryside among sheep, documenting the work only through a single, unverifiable photograph. This of course becomes a performance in itself, demonstrating how boundaries between work and leisure are increasingly blurred within a 24/7, always-on, always- connected, high performance culture. The artist retreat as performance thus functions both as a rupture in the seamless flow of artistic productivity and as a kind of myth within the artist’s body of work—a dematerialized form of production that persists over time.