Untitled

Albert OehlenWW-1997-132580

1997·Screen print, acrylic and oil on canvas·245 × 190.5 cm (96 1/2 × 75 in.)

<p>Albert Oehlen is known for anti-authoritarian work that attempts to reassess the role of painting in postwar Germany. <em>Untitled</em> is from a series that the artist began in the late 1990s, in which he used basic computer technology to “draw” gesture. After printing these already-mediated images, enlarging and silkscreening them onto canvas, he painted over them—either erasing lines and shapes with white paint, extending marks with black brushstrokes, or adding spurts of spray paint. Exploring the dichotomy of the virtual and the handmade, these hybrid paintings raise questions about what constitutes freedom and control, addressing the intimate relationship between computer technology and human labor.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1997
Medium: Screen print, acrylic and oil on canvas
Dimensions: 245 × 190.5 cm (96 1/2 × 75 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Albert Oehlen

Artist

Albert Oehlen

Painting

Born in Krefeld, West Germany, in 1954, Albert Oehlen belongs to a generation of new wave German Expressionists who set out to question, challenge and radically transform the face of painting in the wake of World War II. Having grown up in a post-war, guilt-ridden country, Oehlen sought to rid himself from the shackles of the past and create a new pictorial language befitting of his contemporary moment. Beginning his artistic training at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg, Oehlen studied under Sigmar Polke until 1981. Over a prolific career spanning more than four decades, he has experimented with an array of approaches, materials and techniques ranging from representational painting, Abstract Expressionist brushstrokes and graffiti, to computer-generated elements, textiles and installations. Amongst his best-known and most sought-after series are his Bad, Grey, Computer, and John Graham Remix paintings, as much as his ongoing and career-long cycle of Self-Portraits.

Switzerland

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