Josef Strau lives and works in New York. Institutional solo exhibitions include Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2020); Greene Naftali, New York (2018, 2012); Künstlerhaus Bremen (2017); Secession, Vienna (2015); The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago (2014); and Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2008). His recent solo presentation at Greene Naftali, titled Ulysses, was his sixth with the gallery since 2002. Significant group exhibitions include Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2022); the Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea (2020); Neues Museum Nürnberg (2020); Kunsthalle Bern (2017); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016); mumok, Vienna (2015); Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (2014); the Liverpool Biennial (2014); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2013); Generali Foundation, Vienna (2012); and SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York (2011).

His work is in the collections of the Bundeskunstsammlung – The Federal Collection of Contemporary Art, Germany; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany.