Contemporary Art: Grau By Albert Oehlen @ Nahmad Contemporary, New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - I am a connoisseur of contemporary art. Albert Oehlen belongs to my favorites artists.  The German, born 1954, was a student of Sigmar Polke and friend of the late Martin Kippenberger and is known for the radical shifts in his work and style. W Magazin calls Oehlen the "change artist" (wmagazine). And the curators of Los Angeles` Broad Museum write: "Albert Oehlen exaggerates and distorts the traditions of abstract painting, breaking all the rules in order to discover how those customs work. The resulting paintings are so thoroughly and cleverly steeped in an aesthetic of excess and indulgence that the artist persuasively communicates a visual picture of breakdown"  (thebroad).

The gallery Nahmad Contemporary in Manhattan`s Upper Eastside (980 Madison Avenue nahmad )  shows selected works by the influential artist. The show is called "Grau" ("Grey"). According to the press release "the exhibition is the first ever to offer an intimate examination of this important series by a provocateur known for challenging the boundaries of painting and embracing a remarkably wide range of styles." (exhibitions).

The press release further explains: "Created between 1997 and 2008, in the wake of the artist’s original black-and-white “computer” paintings and concurrently with the brilliantly colorful “switch” paintings—two series that utilized digital tools in their creation—the gray paintings hone in on painterly gesture and material essence. Oscillating between figuration and abstraction and made strictly by hand without the distraction of color, these large grisaille works on canvas embrace painting’s conventional tools in order to expose the inadequacies of the medium itself".

I show here my favorites from the exhibition, a very subjective selection as usual.

Enjoy!