Albert Oehlen, born on September 17, 1954, in Krefeld, West Germany, is a pivotal figure in contemporary art, known for his innovative and provocative paintings that challenge and expand the boundaries of the medium. Oehlen's journey into the art world began in the late 1970s when he moved to Berlin and worked various jobs, including as a waiter and decorator, alongside his friend, the artist Werner Büttner. His formal education in art took place at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg, where he graduated in 1978. It was during this time that Oehlen, along with Martin Kippenberger and Georg Herold, became part of the Berlin "bad boy" group, a moniker that hinted at their rebellious approach to art and life. Oehlen's work is deeply intertwined with the Cologne art scene and is associated with the Neue Wilde movement. However, he has been described as a 'free radical' of his generation, constantly questioning and reinventing the methods and means of painting. His art is a testament to his refusal to adhere to any single style or movement. Instead, Oehlen's work is characterized by a relentless experimentation with form, color, and technique, blending abstract and figurative elements, and incorporating materials and imagery from popular culture and computer-generated graphics. Throughout the 1980s, Oehlen began to challenge the prevailing Neo-Expressionist aesthetic with his unique blend of abstraction and figuration. This period marked a significant evolution in his style, as he started to explore the process of painting itself, often setting self-imposed, absurd parameters for his work. For instance, he limited his palette to gray tones for his "Grey" paintings and restricted himself to primary colors for another series that critiqued the notion of "bad" painting. This approach not only demonstrated Oehlen's technical versatility but also his conceptual depth, as he engaged with the history of painting while simultaneously subverting its conventions. One of the most significant shifts in Oehlen's career occurred in the late 1990s and early 2000s when he began to incorporate digital technology into his practice. This led to the creation of the "Computer Paintings" series, where Oehlen used primitive drawing software to generate compositions that he would then execute on canvas. These works, characterized by their hectic designs and chaotic content, marked Oehlen as the first significant artist to exploit the visual language of computer graphics, further cementing his reputation as an innovator. Oehlen's exploration of the medium has also led him to engage with the concept of the self-portrait, a genre he has revisited throughout his career. His "Self-Portraits" series, which includes works such as "Frühstück Now (Self-Portrait)" (1984) and "Self-Portrait With Open Mouth" (2001), showcases his ability to interrogate the notion of identity and the role of the artist within the broader cultural landscape. Oehlen's contributions to contemporary art have been recognized in numerous solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions worldwide, including the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Bilbao, and the New Museum in New York, among others. His work is held in the permanent collections of major museums, including the Tate, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Albert Oehlen's relentless pursuit of new forms of expression and his willingness to confront and question the established norms of painting have made him one of the most important and influential artists of his generation. His work continues to inspire and challenge viewers, offering a complex and multifaceted exploration of the possibilities of painting in the contemporary era.

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