Art Madrid'23 – ALBERT OEHLEN ON THE DEATH OF PAINTING

Untitled, 1994. Silkscreen and acrylic on canvas. Albert Oehlen

 

Albert Oehlen, Rhineland 1954. He began his training at the Fine Arts High School of Hamburg, later received knowledge on advertising and this boosted his artistic career. He began in the 80's in a generation of artists as well known as Martin Kippenberger or Werner Büttner. This group of nonconformists did not conceal their disagreement with the dominant ideology of their time. As for his work, it is necessary to emphasize his beginnings within the abstract expressionism in the "Neue Wilde", works of great size with a marked tone of social criticism.

 

 

Untitled (Head of idiot) 1988. Oil on canvas. Albert Oehlen

 

 

The main theme of the artist is artistic freedom. This force is reflected in his work with the incorporation of new techniques that wink at the past and generate a new sensation, which articulates a discourse both different and familiar. With his work, Oehlen brings his little bit of sand to the debate that arose at the end of the 20th century on the death of painting. His response, continue to paint, is his means of expression and protest.

 

 

Untitled (Tree 1) 2013. Oil on Dibond. Albert Oehlen

 

 

The exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, curated by Petra Joos, explores the extent to which we are able to see beyond the artist's work. One of the characteristics of this display is the diversity between the different stages of the exhibition, just as Oehlen's work is disparate and familiar in equal parts. The common nucleus unites them and complements them articulating an anthological discourse of the artist.

 

 

He making pottery, 2012. Oil on canvas. Albert Oehlen

 

 

The exhibition, "Albert Oehlen: Behind the Picture" shows the whole essence of this genius recognized by all as a celebrated postwar artist, exhibits its pictorial complexity. The exhibition does not pretend to be a retrospective but a declaration of intentions that you can enjoy until February 5, 2017. The parts, "Self-portraits", "Paintings by computer", "Abstract paintings" and "Trees" are completed with a series Of activities that reveal all the internal keys of the exhibition.

 

 

 

In the year 2020 in the heart of Barcelona a wandering gallery was born, the same one that in February 2021 would debut at Art Madrid with an exhibition proposal focused on contemporary portraits; with this subject matter it would manage to create a powerful dialogue between artwork and audience and make the seal Inéditad remain in the history of the event that contained it.

Jean Carlos Puerto. Protección. Oil and copper leaf on wood. 60 x 48. 2021. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Since that first time and until today, the wandering gallery has managed to build projects on otherness, has repositioned in the spotlight the discourses on the LGTBIQ+ collective, has consolidated a group of artists who share its principles of resilience and empathy and the best thing is that it continues to bet from the professionalism and commitment to give voice to the difference.

Claudio Petit-Laurent.. El Joven de la Perla. Oil on wood. 30 x 30 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Inéditad Gallery, thanks to its founder Luis López, its collaborators and the infinite possibilities manifested in the works of the artists it represents, is a gallery that has demonstrated its capacity and courage to stimulate the sensibility of the public through art and seduce a generation that moves between the glass window and the analogical story. Inéditad is a nomadic gallery that has gathered around it a community of artists and has moved the context with exhibition projects that think about LGTBIQ+ art without prejudices.

Pepa Salas Vilar. Las marcas del arcoiris. Oil on canvas. 40 x 50 cm. 2022. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Pride and Prejudice was inaugurated. An exhibition that brings together the works of sixteen artists: Abel Carrillo, Alex Domènech, Carlos Enfedaque, Silvia Flechoso, Jamalajama, Daniel Jaén, Claudio Petit-Laurent, Jean Carlos Puerto, Fernando Romero, Pablo Rodríguez, Pepa Salas Vilar, Jack Smith, Pablo Sola, Bran Sólo, Elia Tomás and Utürüo. Painting, illustration, photography and digital art are the manifestations that bring into dialogue around fifty neatly threaded pieces, in a discursive line that discusses such a latent phenomenon as discrimination. To achieve this, the artists invited to the exhibition question themselves whether: Does discrimination exist within the LGTBIQ+ collective?

Pride and Prejudice Official Poster. Image courtesy of the gallery.

With approaches on and from the body, the proposal invites to celebrate diversity, proposes to question and self-question the prejudices and attitudes of society against the collective. Pride and Prejudice is a space for dialogue about the constructs imposed on us by society. It is also an oasis in which to deconstruct with tolerance and respect the subjectivities that sometimes prevent us from approaching the production of the participating artists, simply because "the beautiful" does not fit in an androgynous body. The subjugation of stereotypes are pressed with determination to find the beauty of diversity in other palpable facets of reality.

Pablo Sola. All men are dogs. Photography. 2014. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Throughout these three years Inéditad has stimulated the vindictive projection towards bad practices, has questioned estates around the LGTBIQ+ body and the most admirable thing, is that these capacities have resurfaced around the dialogue and the visual narrative of the stories that are told from the visual: Artworks that are people, art that is, per se, humanity. Overcome impositions and accept what is different in order to continue fighting against homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia or transphobia and defend the equal rights that all the acronyms of the collective deserve in our community.

That's Pride and Prejudice: One creature, the happiest in the world. And maybe other projects and other people have said it - or felt it - before, but none so fairly.

Silvia Flechoso. Hola, soy maricón. Oil on canvas. 73 x 54 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

From June 8th until June 22nd you can visit Pride and Prejudice. Carrer de Palau núm. 4. Canal Gallery space. Barcelona.