Kim Köster is a German artist. He entered the international urban art scene at a young age, working across Europe, Australia, Canada, and South America. He became known for creating works in abandoned buildings, where his characters appear to interact with the decaying architecture, blending painting with architectural elements.
Since 2020, he has shifted his practice from derelict spaces to the studio, focusing primarily on painting on canvas. His work is often developed in series, exploring a single motif and medium through multiple variations. He continues to work across abstract and figurative approaches, using both analogue and digital techniques.
He currently lives and works between Berlin and Ein Ding der Möglichkeit (Salderatzen).
You originally come from Worpswede, a renowned German artists’ village. How did growing up there shape your artistic development?
Art has always been part of my life—through my parents’ strong interest in art and culture, and through the environment of Worpswede. The unique landscape and light of Worpswede certainly shaped me. I still really love the wide meadows and the dark moors with their birch trees.
In addition to Berlin, you live and work in Wendland, a rural region of Germany. How did this connection come about, and how does the rural environment influence your work?
After 20 years in Kreuzberg, I wanted a change. In 2020, together with friends, I founded the project “Ein Ding der Möglichkeit” – Experimental field for co-creation and zeitgeist. I wanted to get away from the millions of stimuli in the city and focus on contemplation again. The Wendland is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Germany—I’ve never seen a darker sky as it is there. It helps me to completely focus on my work, that is beneficial for my productivity and leads me to new levels in my art.
Your work is created in series. How did this approach develop, and what draws you to it?Serial painting contradicts the idea that a single painting has to say everything. It allows meaning to emerge between the pieces. For me, a new series begins when the flow moves (ME) in a new direction. Then I finish the current one and follow the new path. In a series, the whole is fragmented: no linear narrative, but fragments that exist side by side. For me, this reflects the nature of our reality.
For years, I painted figures in abandoned industrial sites, always adapted to the local lighting conditions, as if they belonged there. The figurative element continues into my current works on canvas, even as it increasingly dissolves. Even though I am now focusing on canvas, I still very much enjoy painting walls. The bigger, the better.
What are your next artistic steps, and what can we look forward to?
In my next two series, I will continue to try to provoke the viewer’s imagination—I will keep working in a concrete–non-concrete way and further push the play of light and shadow.
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