Albert Oehlen

Oehlen - Song X

Albert Oehlen, Song X, 2004, courtesy Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin

Albert Oehlen - Title Unknown

Albert Oehlen, from Google Images--title, dimensions, date unknown

oehlen - thumbnail

from artnet report on 2005 Miami art fairs (a 2003 Oehlen painting)

Among the German neo-Dada, neo-Expressionist style artists still looming large over the art world, Oehlen showed the greatest commitment to incorporating the computer into his art, with cheesy spray-on fill patterns mingling with AbEx brushwork (middle image above) and egregious photoshop collages (top image, with Lawnmower Man-like virtual noodling in place of fill patterns). Egregious in a good way--his irony and skepticism about this brave new medium always came through. In his last few New York shows he seems to have backed off the "cyber" influence in favor of mushy expressionism (bottom image). I hope this isn't because of collector conservatism keeping "pure painting" on life support. Possibly Oehlen continues to show work in Europe that reflects the warped world we actually live in.