"Christoph Mascher matured in the twilight of Postmodern art, in Germany, the country that developed the most and the best Postmodern art — from Beuys to Genzken, Oehlen, Krebber, Immendorff, von Bonin, Palermo, Polke, an astonishing diversity of makers. And Mascher knows his roots first-hand, having studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst in Braunschweig under Walter Dahn, an anchor of the 1980s German avant-garde and paragon of “bad painting” via the early and important Mülheimer Freiheit group in Cologne. Mascher understands the adversarial position of the Postmodern artist, the enduring ‘disruption’ vibe holding over from Situationism. He understands that attitude, but is of a new generation. He wants more. While the internet endures as as the pinnacle realisation of the Postmodern dream, and defines the freedoms of the Millenial generation, Mascher seeks freedoms of expression that are closely tied to full presence in the world. This is the graffiti artist’s impulse, and the worldview that Mascher has built through his painting practice. His work is about recognition and cognition: recognition is absorbing the landscape from being in it; cognition is the engine to invent new forms within it. Mascher builds the landscape anew while reacting to its foundations. He values presence above all."

— from the text by William Pym

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Street Turns River at Josh Lilley, London, November 15, 2015 – January 14, 2016.