Markus Oehlen

Critical text

Markus Oehlen (b. 1956, Krefeld) studied design at the Akademie der Künste in Düsseldorf, where in 1977 he also had his first solo exhibition at Konrad Fischer Galerie. He joined a group of painters including his brother, Albert Oehlen, Martin Kippenberger and Werner Büttner, and participated in several of the group’s exhibitions, including Finger für Deutschland (Atelier Jörg Immendorff, Düsseldorf, 1980) and Von Hier Aus (Messegelände, Düsseldorf, 1984). Initially using a rather dark range of colours, Oehlen gradually lightened his palette until, from the end of the 1990s onwards, it turned towards psychedelic and intoxicating hues. In his paintings he combines figurative motifs within largely abstract compositions, exploring both the power of evocative images and the formal nuances of light and colour. He experiments with various forms of mixed media, in large formats, developing highly complex compositions that incorporate computer-generated imagery. These works are ambiguous composites that reject any interpretation and theorization of the avant-garde. They display an ironic and playful way of thinking, which manifests itself in the way the artist takes and arranges compositional elements and motifs from art history, particularly those of classical modernism and the 1950s (Julius Bissier, Henry Moore, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró). His work deconstructs bourgeois values and norms and uses elements of pop culture as a seismograph of new media.

Text by Mouna Mekouar