Born in Germany, Austen studied painting and drawing with H.J. Diehl at Hochschule der Künste (University of the Arts) in Berlin. His first arrival in the United States was marked by a 1998 group exhibition titled VOID at Unfinished gallery in Williamsburg, New York. He has since exhibited widely in the United States and Germany, most recently at Good Weather in North Little Rock, Waiting Room in Minneapolis and Butchers Daughter Gallery in Detroit. In 2009, Austen was awarded a Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellowship and was the Grant Wood Fellow for Painting and Drawing at the University or Iowa in 2012/13. He is an Assistant Professor in Painting at Boston College and summer faculty in painting at Interlochen Center for the Arts.