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André Butzer: What can an oil painting communicate that computer graphics can’t – and the reverse as well?
Albert Oehlen: ….it is only necessary to press two keys to create the negative of a picture and one can quickly restore the picture to its original state. In painting, such rapid alterations are not possible, so the manner of working is completely different.
This conversation appears in Albert Oehlen – Terminal Refreshment: Computer Collage and Painting (2001). Benjamin Cohen has been investigating the dialogue between computer collage and the act of painting for over two years. He cites artists Oehlen, Martin Kippenberger, Werner Büttner, David Salle and Jack Goldstein as the starting point for his reappraisal of painting as a medium, drawn to the possibilities of remodelling and reshuffling painting styles appropriated from art history.
The exhibition offers a snapshot of Cohen’s ongoing consideration of his approach, namely his ‘tug-of-war’ with representation and abstraction. This has been accelerated by a recent departure towards a more monochrome palette, experimentation with smaller formats and different surfaces, posing fresh challenges for Cohen’s practise.
A full exhibition catalogue with a foreword
by Frank Cohen and an essay by Maggie Gray is available.
Please contact the gallery to order a copy.
BREESE LITTLE
London, London EC1V 0DU