Jan Knap studied architecture in Prague and painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf between 1970 and 1972. In the 1970s he moved to the United States (where he remained from 1972 to 1982, living mostly in New York). In the late 1970s, together with Milan Kunc and Peter Angermann, he founded the "Normal Group": an anomalous group of three resident artists, Kunc in Cologne, Angermann in Nuremberg and finally Knap, at least officially, in Chrudimi and New York ... .

In the 1980s, Knap's pilgrimage continued: first he studied theology in Rome from 1982 to 1984, then from 1984 to 1989 he lived and worked in Cologne, and finally from 1989 to 1992 he moved to Modena. He now lives and works in Cologne, Mo...