Not Only Biennale - Palazzo
Grassi
Albert Oehlen – Cows
by the Water
At Palazzo Grassi, Cows by the Water, until January 6, is a monographic
exhibition devoted to Albert Oehlen.
Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, the
exhibition lays out a path dedicated to his production through a
selection of approximately 85 works, including some lesser-known ones, created
between the 1980s and today.
“Albert Oehlen is an
artist who loves to persevere. If certain themes reappear throughout his work,
it is because he wants to give himself the opportunity to push his analysis
further, reevaluate his own work, reinterpret a melody with a different
inflection”
Caroline Bourgeois
curator
Caroline Bourgeois
curator
Albert
Oehlen – Cows by the Water
Untitled – 2015-2016
oil - lacquer- paper on canvas
The works brought together come from
the Pinault Collection as well as
from other major private collections and international museums. Conceived with
the artist specifically for the spaces of Palazzo
Grassi, the unique exhibition path is not chronological but rather suggests
a syncopated rhythm between various genres and periods, thereby underlining the
central role played by music in the artist’s practice. Music emerges as a real
metaphor of his work method, where contamination and rhythm, improvisation and
repetition, density and harmony of sounds become pictorial gestures.
Untitled – 1991
oil on canvas
Self-Portrait with
Palette – 2002-2005
oil on board
I 33 – 2013
paper on canvas
Untitled - 2016-1996
oil on Canvas
Space Travel
oil on canvas
Though refusing to be determined by
a specific artistic movement, Albert Oehlen reveals himself to be a major figure
of contemporary painting thanks to his artistic research in constant evolution,
dedicated to experiments and to overcoming formal limits rather than to the
subject represented.
Road to Oehle – 1999
oil on canvas
“…to see Albert Oehlen’s
works as territories. In fact, the effects of frontiers, encroachments and
rearrangements appear to be innumerable. The secret law – never stated,
constantly modified – that governs these developments is that of palimpsest,
sedimentation, foliation, very often even jamming.”
Jean-Pierre Criqui
art historian
Construction
5 – 2010
charcoal – acrylic on canvas
Untitled –
Installation – 2005
Forms and Sounds – 1996
oil on canvas
The
Skateroom with Albert Oehlen
“The Skateroom’s main
purpose is to empower youth through art & skateboarding. We are incredibly
grateful to launch this edition with Albert Oehlen at Palazzo Grassi.
Collaborating with visionary artists such as Albert Oehlen is not only humbling
but also inspiring since it allows us to support an NGO and build a skate park
in some parts of the world.”
Charles-Antoine Bodson
founder
Cofftea/Kafftee
For the duration of the exhibition, in the atrium of
Palazzo Grassi, Albert Oehlen, presents his project Cofftea/Kafftee, proceeds
go to charity.