Gábor Kristóf

Gábor Kristóf (born in Košice/Czechoslovakia in 1988) is a visual artist living and working between Budapest/Hungary and Košice. He studied painting and intermedia at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest and at Chelsea College of Arts in London/UK. In 2025, he successfully defended his Doctor of Liberal Arts (DLA) dissertation, which explores the history of colour standardization, with a particular focus on the RAL Institute and its German heritage.

Kristóf’s practice investigates the frequently hidden cultural routines shaped by mass production and profit-driven standardization in Central Europe. In recent years, he has developed a fascination with the absurd cultural phenomena surrounding golf, leading him to establish a subversive, anti-golf collective titled Untitleist, or urban golf club. During his Solitude fellowship, Kristóf is working on a book project that documents and reflects upon this theme.

In parallel to his artistic work, he runs RAL5050, an experimental powder coating studio, and lectures on colour theory. His international experience includes residencies at Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris/France, 2016), Art-in-General (New York/USA, 2017), and MeetFactory (Prague/Czech Republic, 2022). In 2022 he further extended his research through an internship at Archiv Charlotte Posenenske, Galerie Mehdi Chouakri (Berlin/Germany), under the Peter und Irene Ludwig Stiftung. In 2023, he was awarded the Klára Herczeg Prize, and he has been repeatedly shortlisted for both the Esterházy Art Award and the Strabag Art Award.

Kristóf is represented by the gallery Kisterem.