Conduction 9
2011
Albert Oehlen
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In these latest works currently on display in Paris at Galerie Nathali Obadia til Dec 17, Albert Oehlen uses charcoal and acrylic on canvas to re-create the kind of visuals he used in the early 90’s in making basic computer paintings, which at the time were so pixelated that he would silkscreen print them at large scale and then go over the bumpy (BMP) edges and smooth them out with paint. In work following that period there is no computer print under the works, the printed graphic is only a memory in these works to be mimicked by the hand with traditional materials. It is an interesting turn, marking the time for computer painting as a moment in the past, rather than the present - at least for Oehlen anyway. It is undoubtedly work from the 1990’s - a point in time the artist appears to fixate. For the rest of us, there’s vectors.