Albert Oehlen: Woods near Oehle

The largest exhibition of Albert Oehlen’s work in the United States to date, Albert Oehlen: Woods near Oehle illustrates the depth and complexity of an artist who has been at the forefront of artistic innovation since the late 1970s. 

Notably, the exhibition features many new works, primarily Oehlen’s series of monumental Baumbilder (Tree Paintings). Over the past thirty years, the tree has served as a motif within Oehlen’s work, allowing him to test the boundaries of figuration and abstraction. Albert Oehlen: Woods near Oehle includes curatorial, musical, and written contributions by four of Oehlen’s closest friends and fellow travelers—curator Julie Sylvester, artist Christopher Williams, and author and critic Diedrich Diederichsen—helping to pinpoint his diverse approach to art making. Oehlen and Swiss musician Michael Wertmüller have produced a new composition as part of a multimedia installation, also debuting in Cleveland.

A thought-provoking and unconventional survey, including work from the past thirty years, Albert Oehlen: Woods near Oehle reflects Oehlen’s complex layering of methods, subject matter, and viewpoints, while also celebrating an artist who continues to radically question the limits of painting. In conjunction with the exhibition, the CMA produced a “box set” containing a newly pressed EP, an exhibition catalogue, and an anthology of texts and images edited by Christopher Williams, among other objects.