Caro Jost
（Germany, b. 1965)

Artist and filmmaker Caro Jost lives and works in Munich and New York. Her basic artistic theme: the documentation of time, space and events, the search for traces of the past and placing them in a current, contemporary context.

In 2000 she started her long-term project STREETPRINTS in New York. Using a special, self-developed technique to capture traces of the past, she takes real imprints of streets and sidewalks on canvas from so far over 70 cities worldwide. She also creates photo- and film documentaries, like the 2014 produced film “Final Traces of the Abstract Expressionists“ about the former artist studios of the Abstract Expressionists in New York.

"NOTES W.K. June 30, 1911" (envelope and stamp), epoxy resin, acrylic, digital silkscreen on shaped canvas, 2018, 66 x 59 x 15 cm, Wassily Kandinsky. The postal stamp dates back to 1911 and is from a handwritten letter addressed to his then-girlfriend Gabriele Münter. The original envelope was authorized by the Gabriele Münter Foundation, and Carol Jost appropriated it for this artwork.

In 2015 she started working on the series INVOICE PAINTINGS and NOTES. Caro Jost uses original archive material, which she finds and collects in the studios or estates of her favorite artists, whose working lifes she studied with great intensity, like Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, or Günther Uecker and Wassily Kandinsky - just for the show at Blue Rider Art. Based on these templates, she produces large-format prints on canvas, which she then transforms and paints over.


In addition to appearing in numerous international exhibitions, her work is included in the Jumex Collection (Mexico City), ICC Collection (Athens), Chelsea Art Museum (New York), Colby Museum (Maine), Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (Municipal Gallery in the Lenbachhaus, Munich), Stadtmuseum München (City Museum of Munich), and the archives of MoMA (New York) and Guggenheim Collection (Venice), et al.

Education 

Munich Academy of Fine Arts 
Munich Literature and Law, Ludwig-Maximillians University

Solo Exhibitions

2022  SEE WHAT WAS NEXT, CAS-Center for Advanced Studies, Munich
2022  ALL IN ONE, Britta Rettberg Gallery, Munich
2021 TEMPO! Reflexionen über Geschwindigkeit*, Neue Galerie, Museum Dachau, Dachau
2020 FINAL TRACES, Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils
2020 CHARACTER-IMAGE ART, Art Granary, Beijing
2020 ALGORITHM AND APPROPRIATION, Bluerider Art Gallery, Taipei
2020 GABRIELE MÜNTER AND HER GUESTS, Museum Münter Haus, Murnau
2019 Guests of Gabriele Münter, Münter Museum, Murnau, Germany
2019 Walk the Talk, Rettberg Gallery, Munich, Germany
2018 A road to red, yellow and blue, Bluerider ART, Taipei, Taiwan
2017 Invoice Paintings Günther Uecker, Walter Storms Gallery, Munich, Germany
2017 TRACES, Slewe Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2017 Invoice Paintings Barnett Newman, Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Germany
2016 WHITE STREET, Gallery 401contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2015 FINAL TRACES, Museum of Concrete Art, Ingolstadt, Germany
2014 STREETPRINTS, Gallery 401contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2014 One night at Schumann´s, Museum of the City of Munich, Munich, Germany
2013 Film im K20, Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf, Germany
2013 Crosstown Reflections, Gallery Oberbayern, Munich, Germany
2011 Streetviews, Royal Residence, Munich, Germany
2010 Tenth Street, New York, Royal Residence, Munich, Germany
2009 stop-over / cross-over, Royal Residence, Munich, Germany
2008 Utcanyomatok/Streetprints, Museum Laszlo Vass, Veszprém, Hungary
2008 Streetprints, Galerie Nero, Wiesbaden, Germany
2007 Streetprints, Galerie Florian Walch, Munich, Germany
2006 Carpe Momentum, Alp Galleries, Frankfurt, Germany
2006 ongoing Mail Art & Streetprinting project: Taipei, Copenhagen, Abu Dhabi, Turin, Luxembourg, Bilbao, Munich, Vienna, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Oslo, Toronto, Havana, Rome, Jerusalem, Muscat, Kassel, Milan, Lisbon, Venice, Montauk, Paris, Bayreuth, New York II, Madrid, Istanbul, Moscow, Prague, Hong Kong, Veszprém, Miami, Sevilla, Berlin, New York, London
2003 Streetprints, Shanghai Art Salon, Shanghai, China
2002 Streetprints, Galerie Charles Schumann, Munich, Germany
2001 Art in the Box on Fifth Avenue, Goethe Institut, New York, USA
2001 Streetprints, Alp Galleries, New York, USA
2001 Open Studio, 515 Greenwich Street, New York, USA
2001 Streetprints, American Institute of Contemporary German Culture,Washington, USA
2000 Kunst gesehen, VOID, New York, USA
2000 New Works, GACC, New York, USA

Selected Group Exhibitions and Screenings

2023 Homeland Universe, Bluerider ART London Mayfair, UK
2023 Abstraction, Bluerider ART, Taipe
2023 Wild Grass,  Bluerider ART, Taipei, Shanghai
2023 40 YEAR, groupshow, Kunstverein Emsdetten,Germany
2023 SEDIMENT, Slewe Gallery, Amsterdam
2023 FINAL TRACES, film + work presentation. Lothar Fischer Museum, Neumarkt
2022 All in one, Britta Rettberg Gallery, Munich
2022 DREI FARBEN: BLUE-WHITE-RED, Walter Storms Galerie, Munich
2021 SCHNEE FÄLLT HINTERM BERGE, Avlskarl Gallery, Copenhagen
2021 9/11 und die Kugel Koenig, KOENIG MUSEUM, Landshut
2021 COMPRESSED TIME*, Maxime Ballesteros, Martin Boyce, Paul Hutchinson, Caro Jost, Wilhelm Klotzek, Caroline Kryzecki, Alicja Kwade, Bernhard Martin, Olaf Metzel, Gerold Miller, Anselm Reyle, curated by Dr. Friederike Nymphius, Berlin, FS.Art, Berlin
2021 WE MELT BEFORE IT FORMS*, curated by Joseph Constable, Associate Curator Serpentine Galleries, London, Rettberg Galerie, Munich
2021 MADE IN GERMANY*, Caro Jost, Tim Freiwald, Angela Glajcar, Peter Krauskopf, Dirk Salz, et al. Gallery Bluerider Art, Taipeh
2021 FOR FREE*, curated by Daniel Man, Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich
2021 GABRIELE MÜNTER AND HER GUESTS*, Gabriele Münter, Wassily Kandinsky, Caro Jost, Museum Münter Haus, Murnau
2020 SOLID FICTION, Tim Freiwald, Caro Jost, Imi Knoebel, Marton Nemes, Cordy Ryman, Anselm Reyle, Karin Sander, Kunstverein Emsdetten
2019 Yoko Ono-Water Event, Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany
2019 The Abstract Cabinet, Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Firenze, Italy
2019 PRIVATE VIEW, Adam Colton, Alan Charlton, Callum Innes, Caro Jost, Dan Walsh…Gallery Slewe at Huize Frankendael, Amsterdam
2018 Sixth Sense, Walter Storms Gallery, Munich, Germany
2018 Monumenta, Leipzig, Germany
2018 Final Traces of Abstract Expressionists, NYC Independant Film Festival, New York, USA
2017 VOLUME 3, Gallery Britta von Rettberg, Munich, Germany
2017 The Archive Benefit, Anthology Film Archive, New York, USA
2017 Challery, Novomatic Forum, Vienna
2017 Final Traces, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Desert, USA
2016 Invoice Paintings Rupprecht Geiger, Kunstverein, Munich, Germany
2015 CONCRETE JUNGLE, Walter Storms Gallery, Munich, Germany
2015 SUMMER SHOW, The Watermill Center, Water Mill/New York, USA
2015 Final Traces of Abstract Expressionists, American Documentary, Palm Springs, USA
2014 Final Traces of Abstract Expressionists, Mies van der Rohe Haus, Berlin, Germany
2014 ChuckaChucka, Kunsthalle, Memmingen, Germany
2014 Final Traces of Abstract Expressionists, New Film Makers, New York, USA
2013 Konstruiertes Grau, Mies van der Rohe Haus, Berlin, Germany
2013 Salon der Gegenwart, Hamburg, Germany
2013 Artist Comes First, Festival International d´Art, Toulouse, France
2012 20Stuck, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
2012 Black-White, Galerie Nero, Wiesbaden, Germany
2011 New Works, Alp Galleries, Frankfurt, Germany
2011 SprachRaumWelten, DWS, Frankfurt, Germany
2010 Via Streetprints, VDA, Berlin, Germany
2010 New Works, Alp Galleries, New York, USA
2008 Group Show, Walter Bischoff Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2007 Obsession durch Technik, Galerie artMbassy, Berlin, Germany
2007 Die Ü berquerung, Galerie Haus Rhode VW, Wolfsburg, Germany
2006-2005-2004 Streetprints / New Works, Alp Galleries, New York, USA
2003 Streetprints, Galerie Charles Schumann, Munich, Germany
2001 Little Red School, I-20 Gallery, New York, USA
2001 ART hits ACADEME, 5th Avenue, New York, USA
2000 German Pavilion, EXPO 2000, Hannover, Germany

Selected Collections and Archives

Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam
Jumex Collection, Mexico
Colby Museum of Art, Maine
Black Mountain College Museum, Asheville
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
Museum of the City of Munich
ZERO Foundation, Düsseldorf
Langen Foundation, Hombroich
Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils,LT
Chelsea Art Museum, New York
Wemhöner Collection, Herford/Berlin
Ottmann Collection, Munich
Vass Collection, Budapest
ICCollection, Munich/Athens
VDA, Verband Deutscher Automobilindustrie, Berlin
KG Allgemeine Leasing, Grünwald
Collection Lenz, Berlin
Collection Villa Rhode, Wolfsburg
Collection Hopson, New York/USA
Collection Ketterer, Munich
Collection Alp/Grosse, Frankfurt
Collection PAM AG, Ypps/Austria
Peggy Guggenheim Collection Archive, Venice
The Barnett Newman Foundation, New York
Smithsonian Institution-Archives of American Art, Washington
MoMA Library Collection, New York

Caro Jost often traces the past of others in her work. The archives of well-known artists, pictures of their studios or even their material bills become objects in Jost’s works. In her ongoing series of Streetprints, too, it is traces of what has been, inscribed in public places, to which she gives a body. Marginal histories and memories play a central role. She appropriates things that seem ephemeral, for the most part perhaps they are, giving the incidental a physicality without being nostalgic or worshipful. Rather, it is her way of listening and looking closely that characterizes her engagement with the objects. This creates conversations that contain Jost’s reflection, but also testify to the material’s resistance.

Before studying art in New York and Munich, Caro Jost studied law. The law with its requirements on action that shape the social, civic and political life continue to preoccupy the artist to this day. In 2016, she made over 500 drawings on original law sheets in her performative installation “Panama Paperworks,” which also served as wallpaper within the temporary office setting. The drawings resemble annotations that reflect the artist’s reading and interpretation through highlighting and deletions. In some places the sheets are stamped with her name or own terms. For a series of paintings, Jost printed a selection on canvas using screenprint, partly overpainted them, pasted them over and then poured over them with epoxy. Thus, in one of the works, in addition to individual fragments, only the terms “contest,” “prize promises,” and “duty to notify in the event of rejection” remain from the legal text. Stamped in capital letters on the work is “NO VIP ROOM IN REAL LIFE”. It is contradictions that come together here: the promising prize of a competition – an all-inclusive trip, perhaps – and the set of rules that brings disillusionment at the end. In another work, Jost uses a law sheet on the subject of change of family names. Much of it is crossed out, and the printed canvas is compressed on its carrier so that other things disappear into the folds of the canvas. On a piece of tape extending centrally across the canvas, we find Jost’s own handwriting, “Who travels to Las Vegas does not ask for the last name”. The clue this time leads to Jost’s own past and a spontaneous marriage in Las Vegas many years ago. Stamped on the bottom right of the work in capital letters is “CARO JOST.” The relationship has long since ended, but the name has remained as a trace of its own, inscribed in the artist’s work and identity.

Caro Jost acts as an archivist who holds on to something and preserves it, who has an eye for the trivial, the humor in small things, the absurdity in others. In the exhibition at Britta Rettberg, in addition to the series of law paintings, the focus is on a work that was created ten years ago. It is a compact medium-sized canvas, which is completely wrapped with a black Velcro tape. The Velcro thereby seems to protectively cover something and hold this interior together. However, it also creates associations with confinement, the feeling of being tied down, and the need to loosen the Velcro. Jost shows the independent work in an installative setting for the exhibition, applied to a photo wallpaper: Caro at the beach. The aesthetics of the two layers are diametrically opposed. An image of a body and a body. It is the most personal exhibition she has ever done, Jost says in conversation. She is concerned with the public pressure of having to conform to a certain image, often especially as a woman, and to emerge from it. She uses confrontation, or rather superimposition, to ask the question, “Where do I reveal more?” The vacation picture on the beach is not. But the smooth mural, from whose superficiality everything seems to slip away, stands for the ideas of an optimization society, what a self-image should look like that we share, in which we communicate who we are. Jost counters this with her Velcro work, which here can no longer be interpreted in any other way than as a self-portrait or a description of one’s own state. A state that, by showing the work, has perhaps itself become a trace in the past.

Author：Dr. Monika Bayer-Wermuth

【上海·外灘】蛻變四重奏 Quartet 四人群展 2023.12.9 – 2024.2.17

【Shanghai·The Bund】'Quartet' 2023.12.9 – 2024.2.17

【London·Mayfair】 Homeland Universe 2023.9.7- 11.26

【London·Mayfair】 Homeland Universe 2023.9.7- 11.26

HTC X Bluerider ART Genesis Special Project

HTC X Bluerider ART Genesis Special Project

【台北·仁愛】 Algorithm & Appropriation 演算 & 挪用-Pascal Dombis, Caro Jost雙人展 2.15 – 4.2,2020

【Taipei·RenAi】 Algorithm & Appropriation -Pascal Dombis, Caro Jost Two-person Exhibition 2.15 – 4.2,2020

【台北・仁愛】A road to red, yellow and blue – Caro Jost 卡蘿・傑斯特 2018.9.15-11.24

【Taipei·RenAi】A road to red, yellow and blue – Caro Jost 2018.9.15-11.24

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