Pola Brändle (*1980 in Aachen, Germany) studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Maastricht, Netherlands and is based in Berlin Kreuzberg. Brändle's work has been part of numerous solo and group exhibitions in Germany, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Austria, Lebanon, Hungary and the US.
From an art historical point of view, Brändle follows in the footsteps of the affichistes continuing what her male colleagues have begun more than 60 years ago. However the artist goes one step further: Brändle does not only work with posters from her immediate environment but has collected diverse poster material on her travels through more than 40 countries which provide the bases of her expressive time- and culture-specific artworks. From small fragments to overwhelming large-scale pieces, her collages/decollages range between pop art and abstraction - two poles that usually represent extremes but perfectly coalesce in her works. Brändle's oeuvre allows a variety of different interpretations, true to the motto: The truth is piecemeal.
"For nearly 20 years I have dedicated myself to the creation of collages/decollages. On my travels, I collect posters of local events such as theatre plays, concerts, festivals and other cultural happenings that later form the basis of my works. But not any random posters - placards tanned by wind and weather, amateurishly attached to the walls of buildings and bridges, partly smudged or rotted ones that from city to city, country to country, continent to continent bear their very own hallmarks. Rain, sunlight and sometimes even human vandalism transform the original advertising into something new, something unique. I'm looking for exactly these excerpts to capture them in my collages/decollages holding them for eternity and creating a new unity, layer by layer."