Albert Oehlen
A reoccurring motif throughout Albert Oehlen’s extensive and divergent oeuvre, the tree motif acts as a conceptual foundation upon which the artist developed a profound reflection of representation and abstraction. Simplified in their composition, the present works contain bold signifiers, such as a thick trunk and tangled branches, which mirror the twisting roots below. The absence of background liberates the trees from their natural setting in a traditional landscape painting. Instead the forms float within the expanse of the picture plane. Oehlen’s characteristic shift from figuration is further emphasised by the monochrome colour palette, the trees are demarcated using thick expressive brushstrokes demonstrative of the artist’s preference to portray the process by which artworks are made. The limited palette prevents any tonal distraction and encourages the spectator to enter into a state of sublimity, triggered by the organic tree forms. Concerned with the subjectivity of aesthetics, the artist notes, ‘what I see are unbearably ugly tatters, which are then transformed at the last moment, as if by magic, into something beautiful’ (Albert Oehlen quoted in ‘Albert Oehlen im Gespräch mit Wilfried Dickhoff und Martin Prinzhorn’, Wilfried Dickhoff, ed.,
