János Bittenbinder was born in 1946 in Nagyvárad (Oradea) in Transylvania, a mythical region that belonged to Hungary until the last century before being annexed by Romania after the First World War. János was raised in between the tools of the furniture and toy workshop of his father, whom also renovated art objects in a handicraft style. With this background, János seemed to be predestined to find his profession in the artistic sector. After following an education from 1970 to 1972 to become an interior architect, the desire to work more intensively with free art predominated.

From 1972 until 1976 he continued his studies at the Academy for Visual Arts in Kolozsvár. At the time, the art academies of the Eastern Bloc countries had strict directives to accord the art with a heroic and pathetic cargo. There was little attention for developing personal creativity. Longing to develop his art in free conditions, János left Romania in 1976 and lived in Germany and Switzerland before ending up in The Netherlands in 1979. From that moment, his artistry was accelerated.

The work of János came to growth in The Netherlands. His drawings became more expressive and richer of image. Slowly he dared to choose for a more spontaneous process, dishevelled in its construction, the intuitive of the lines and physical experience of the colours. Also he started to paint on larger canvases.

János Bittenbinder paints what captivates him, what he considers aesthetically pleasing. Attracted by unfamiliar countries, colourful peoples, authentic cultures and untouched landscapes. The urge for freedom that made him decide to leave his homeland, testifies of the instinct of an artist that’s always on the quest for new cultures and exotic landscapes. With some regularity he made study trips to Eastern Europe, South-America, Tibet and China. János keys to his own origin and Western cultural luggage, the overwhelming mountain landscapes of for example the Himalaya and the oriental buildings, like the forbidden town of Beijing. “The far east has fascinated me since my youth, perhaps also genetically determined, since the Hungarian are originated for these areas”.
The outstanding quality of János Bittenbinder's work involves his remarkable talent for capturing light and the effects of light. And light is crucial because it generates colour. Once the arrangement of colours has acquired sufficient warmth and depth, the artist may allow himself to gradually abandon formal shape. As he states: “Painting is actually like making music with light and colour. We experience the world for a large part out of light, as well as orientating ourselves in a space by the grace of light; our live is inseparably connected with this divine gift. In my work this phenomenon takes a central part. I study the different appearances, modulations, contrasts and changes of light. My ultimate aim is to make a comparable musical experience, but then through colour and light”.