“The idea of a never-ending image drives me on. Freed from the notion of the ‘unknown masterpiece’, the image is rather the manifestation of a more complex overall structure, a part of which – a sequence – settles upon the picture support like a skin. The support – usually wood or MDF – is not merely a background, but an equal material in the creative process. It becomes a formative agent, not merely a stage for the material paint. The jigsaw serves as a drawing tool in this process.

My works are entities that relate to space. They exist in exchange, in interaction with other people. The viewers are an indispensable variable that completes the work. Color only takes on form through the gaze, through contemplation.” – Christof John

Christof John was born in Hanover in 1984, studied painting under Prof. Walter Dahn at theBraunschweig University of Art, and lives in Cologne. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Marianne-Defet-Painting-Grant (2027), the Research and Working Scholarship from the Kunststiftung NRW (2026), the Working Grant from the Stiftung Kunstfonds (2023), the Research and Working Scholarship from the City of Cologne (2020), and the Residency Program at Ringenberg Castle (2018).

Christof John’s works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions at venues including the Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal (2026), the Kunsthalle Nürnberg (2026), the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop (2025), the Kunsthalle Bremen (2024), the Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (2024), the Kunsthaus NRW Kornelimünster, Aachen (2021), the NRW Forum, Düsseldorf (2021), the Museum Van Bommel Van Dam, Venlo (2017), PiK Deutz, Cologne (2016), the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2011), and the Bonner Kunstverein (2010).