ALBERT OEHLEN – SEXE, RELIGION, POLITIQUE
2018-09-24Since the 1980s Oehlen has been probing the possibilities of painting through an everevolving style and technique. At the core of his practice are the limitations he imposes on himself as a point of departure, in order to have ‘something to push against’ and thereby expand and redefne our understanding of painting. In this new body of work, Oehlen demonstrates the consistency of his approach in setting narrow parameters to create stark and powerful imagery that highlight his will for constant renewal. “Freedom for me means playing. It does not mean to be in a void and make crazy moves. It means to play with your own rules.” In the new paintings eccentric shapes and forms fLoat untethered on the open surface. The self-appropriation of the tree motif and an allusion to the Fingermalerei (Finger Paintings) paintings is consistent with Oehlen’s continual quest to reveal the process of painting and what occurs on the pictorial surface during that process. The tree motif fIrst appeared in Sturmschaden in 1981 and again in the late 80s. It was at the same time that Oehlen was exploring the formal possibilities of the tree that he made his fIrst purely abstract paintings in 1988.
Opposite – Bam Bam, 2018
Exhibition runs through to December 21st, 2018
Galerie Max Hetzler
57, rue du Temple
75004 Par
