Ben Grosse-Johannboecke
b. 2002, Germany
Ben Grosse-Johannboecke (b. 2002) treats the idea of “exhausted image” as central to his practice, alongside what he calls “exhausted painting”. His work examines how images — particularly those with sociopolitical content — circulate endlessly, becoming detached from their original context and losing their impact.
Using digitally manipulated satellite imagery, he collages, stripes, and repeatedly repaints these images, deliberately obscuring their source while exploring the tension between representation and abstraction. Across his practice, the resulting painting-hybrids oscillate between political reference and autonomous abstraction, readability and opacity, forming intricate visual networks that probe memory, trauma, and the fragile persistence of meaning.