Untitled (Baum 81)
2016
Oil on dibond
250.2 × 250.4 × 1.9 cm (98 1/2 × 98 9/16 × 3/4 in.)
A black rectangle as a trunk and vertical or curved lines as roots and branches make the tree in Untitled (Baum 81) more of an abstract composition. Its clean, graphic lines run across the surface of the white canvas with a red side strip, emphasizing its size and flatness.
The painting belongs to a series in which the tree is reified and purified into an abstract form. Albert Oehlen has been working on this leitmotiv since the late 1980s. Experimenting with this and other themes, the artist has gradually turned away from figuration. Oehlen always avoids realistic depictions of the tree, which becomes an elementary, modular form in a world of black and red on a white background.
Untitled (Baum 81) was exhibited for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the 2018 "Cows by the Water" show at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.
The painting belongs to a series in which the tree is reified and purified into an abstract form. Albert Oehlen has been working on this leitmotiv since the late 1980s. Experimenting with this and other themes, the artist has gradually turned away from figuration. Oehlen always avoids realistic depictions of the tree, which becomes an elementary, modular form in a world of black and red on a white background.
Untitled (Baum 81) was exhibited for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the 2018 "Cows by the Water" show at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice.
Exhibitions
Albert OEHLEN © Adagp, Paris.
Photo by Stefan Rohner.
Courtesy Gagosian.
