Albert Oehlen: Home and Garden includes a selection of Oehlen’s early self-portraits, his post-non-objective canvases, computer paintings and switch paintings from the 1990s, and more recent works fusing appropriated advertising signage and abstract marks. Rather than following a chronological path through OehlenÆs prodigious thirty-year career, the exhibition explores contrasts between interior and exterior, nature and culture, and irony and sincerity, while also demonstrating the artistÆs commitment to continually expanding the language of painting in surprising ways.
At the very beginning of his career, Oehlen set himself the task of exploring the language, structures, and experiences of painting. His work has since oscillated between figuration and abstraction, a dynamic that Oehlen constantly renews through the creation of rules and limitations that yield unpredictable results. Through this process, he has managed to reinvigorate seemingly exhausted genres of painting like portraiture, collage, and gestural abstraction. His work encapsulates both a skepticism of and faith in painting in the face of shifting critical positions and technological innovations.

New Museum and Skira Rizzoli; 2015; Softover; 9.5" x 11.5"; 142 pp; illustrated throughout; ISBN 9780847847198