Albert Oehlen

Private Collection, Northern Germany
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1992

Vienna, Museum Moderner Kunst, Kunst der letzten 10 Jahre, 1989, p. 205, illustrated

Colours: The colours are fairly accurate in the catalogue illustration, although the illustration fails to accurately convey the reflective effect of the five collaged mirrors in the original work. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is a layer of superficial dust adhering to the surface of the composition. There are a few minute flyspots to the white paint to the centre right of the composition, visible only upon close inspection. There are small artist's pinholes holes in places along the two side edges, with associated very minor paint losses to two of the holes. There is a small rub mark with an associated paint loss to the right of the upper mirror in the lower left quadrant. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Figuration with Mirrors is a powerful example of Oehlen's early work where the artist's oeuvre entered a period of transition from a 'formalised' abstraction to a more fluid and intuitive approach to painting. The present work can be seen as a clear building block in Oehlen's development of a style that was infused with a wild variety of media and techniques and openly anti-aesthetic or 'post-nonrepresentationaist' as the artist himself dubbed it: "I'm concerned only with the form, but more as a test of courage. A triangle isn't simply a triangle - the question, "Does this guy really believe it's just a triangle?" is always painted along with it. The test of courage is to trust yourself to have a dark blue surface, and then to paint a yellow crescent in the upper left-hand corner without its becoming a moon." (Albert Oehlen quoted in Exh. Cat., Zurich, Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Albert Oehlen, 2005)

Layers overlap and inter-penetrate in this work, wilfully obscuring meaning and perception as an attempt to explore the shortfalls of representational painting. By introducing mirrors to the imagistic field this relationship is further complicated; the complete lack of figuration is periodically interrupted by hyper-real flashes as the viewer circles the work, these fragments of lucidity constantly interrupted by the flat and enigmatic painted fields. He allows the viewer to enter the picture, merging an individual's fleeting self-perception with irregular patches of painterly impenetrability. Furthermore, by over-painting some of the reflective surfaces the polarity between the figurative and the abstract is broken down allowing these opposites to inter-weave in a seemingly impossible tissue of meaning and anti-meaning. Here we get to the heart of Oehlen's early painting; by allowing opposites to interact seemingly at random on the pictorial plane, the artist explores the possibilities of meaning through the simple act of denying it. As a result a delicately balanced and subtly powerful image emerges from a seemingly chaotic composition, pregnant with half disclosed meaning and compellingly realised.