Luhring Augustine is pleased to present an exhibition of new large scale paintings by the German artist Albert Oehlen, from April 25 through May 30, 2009. This will be Oehlen’s eighth solo show at the gallery.

In this new group of works, Oehlen paints over, under and around Spanish advertisement posters. The original commercial content of the posters is undermined by Oehlen’s reworking of those images as well as his juxtaposition of unrelated advertisements. His interest lies not in the manipulation of pop iconography, but rather in the unnerving emotional effects generated by its obtrusive presence. In contrast with previous work, the use of paint has been reduced, giving focus to the center of the composition and emphasizing the subtle interactions between the paint and the posters. These highly charged paintings eschew formal convention and ultimately advance the medium’s function through the artist’s continued practice of the deliberate negation of imagery.

Albert Oehlen has exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the United States, including a recent presentation of this same body of work at the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Italy. Oehlen’s show at MOCA, Miami in 2005 marked his first major solo exhibition at a museum in the United States. He has had significant exhibitions at such institutions as the Musee Cantonal Des Beaux Arts in Lausanne, Whitechapel Gallery, London, the Secession, Vienna, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, and at the Kunsthalle Basel. This exhibition at Luhring Augustine coincides with a show of black and white computer paintings at Skarstedt Gallery, New York.