Albert Oehlen

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Featuring twenty new works, grouped by the prefixes u.b.B. (unverständliche braune Bilder) and Ö-Norm, the paintings on view are works on canvas, with one painted on aluminium Dibond. As the title, ‘incomprehensible brown pictures’, suggests, earthy pigments predominate, evoking the colours of Cubism, or of artists painting at the time, such as Francis Picabia. Yet many other colours feature too, ranging from vibrant pinks and primaries to greens, greys and ethereal washes of sky blue. Many of the paintings contain white within them, bringing depth to the works and a luminosity to the show.

Techniques abound, from heavy dripping, spraying and smearing to delicate washes of rag-blur or sfumato, demonstrating Oehlen’s unrestrained approach to painting. Caught between flatness and depth, structure and formlessness, the works contrast areas of painterly intricacy with expressive sabotage, revealing an inimitable range of paint handling techniques, unique to the artist.