Albert Oehlen

These paintings are made in such a way that they accept order only very reluctantly. Eventually there is some form of order, but they strive against it. 
—Albert Oehlen

Gagosian is pleased to present a series of new paintings in watercolor on canvas by Albert Oehlen, his first exhibition in Asia.

Oehlen approaches painting as a perceptual challenge, a puzzle set within the unpredictable arena of the picture plane. He often imposes specific rules or limitations on his work—keeping to a certain palette or beginning with a straight line—as a way to interrogate the infinite possibilities that the act of painting presents. By continuously flipping between chaos and control, he opens up new relationships between pictorial space, color, and gesture.

In these new paintings, Oehlen emphasizes the importance of spontaneity within his artistic method. Diverging from his recent works created with oil or lacquer on aluminum or the aluminum composite Dibond, Oehlen’s decision to use watercolor in this series marks a stylistic return to his hazy, blended, almost impressionistic oil paintings dating from 2016 and earlier.