Albert Oehlen - Tapa dura

This is the definitive monograph of Oehlen's work to date. This XL retrospective explores Albert Oehlen's entire career chronologically and examines his creative process via in-depth texts. Limited to 1,000 copies, each numbered and signed by the artist.Albert Oehlen seeks the limits of painting in his work, challenging viewers to abandon their instinctive expectations. His early work in the late 1970s - when painting was decidedly out of fashion - was associated with a so-called 'bad painting' movement, in that it aimed at challenging ideas about what makes a painting 'good' or 'bad'; a recent exhibition in London was, somewhat ironically, entitled 'I Will Always Champion Good Painting'. With an approach he describes as 'post-non-representational', Oehlen uses painting not only as a way to convey meaning, but also as a means of exploring the function a painting can serve - often a painting's title itself gives the work an entirely new dimension. Never without a touch of tongue-in-cheek humor, his work seems to be winking at us as it dares us to change the way we look at art. Combining subtlety and sophistication with chaos and brutality, Oehlen has left an indelible mark on contemporary painting.This XL monograph explores all groups of Oehlen's work chronologically via genre-oriented approach, such as mud-colored paintings, mirror paintings, computer paintings, and so forth. Like a series of interlocking episodes, the chapters of the book draw the reader into a complex drama of constantly evolving themes. In-depth texts get to the root of Oehlen's creative process, and an exhaustive bibliography and biography round out this comprehensive study. While Oehlen fans will rejoice at the publication of this breathtaking book, no one with an interest in contemporary art can afford pass up this unique opportunity to discover Oehlen's work. And to anyone who says painting is obsolete: we beg to differ. This book is also available in an Art Edition, limited to 100 copies and with an original artwork by Albert Oehlen.

Albert Oehlen is a contemporary German artist. His art concentrates on painting, installations and music. Closely associated with the Cologne art scene along with Martin Kippenberger among others, his work is related to the "Neue Wilde" movement. Oehlen comes to painting and art media out of the 70s interest in democratizing high art which allows him to view painting for example, as he says, "with a certain disdain, or at least a lack of respect. So I can romp around in it. And now that I'm having fun with it, I can take its pstualtes very seriously." Book designer and editor Hans Werner Holzwarth started as a typographer and communication designer, then co-led his own company for corporate design. Since 1992, Holzwarth has focused on book design, collaborating with Larry Clark, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Boris Mikhailov, Issey Miyake, Albert Oehlen, Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Kiki Smith, Juergen Teller, Jeff Wall, John Waters, Christopher Wool, and many others. His many titles for TASCHEN include Taschen Collection, Martin Kippenberger, and Jeff Koons.