The question about his understanding of art was frequently posed to Albert Oehlen in interviews, and he once said: “The paintings—whether good or bad, pretty or ugly—stand on their own merits because they require no excuses. No magic, no scientific rigor, no justifications...“ What appears simple upon first glance turns out, upon closer inspection, to be the guiding principle of his artistic stance, for it succinctly captures what distinguished his art at the time the present “Am Wasser” (1985) was created and what would shape an entire generation of artists. A generation driven by a conviction that art needs no justification and must not be a means to an end, but exists for its own sake and can only serve its own purpose. Fueled by the spirit of the 1980s, a time of excess and disillusionment, Albert Oehlen was part of the inner circle around Martin Kippenberger and Werner Büttner, artists united by the goal of pushing the boundaries of painting, questioning painterly traditions, transgressing norms and social restrictions. The group regularly put the art establishment’s tolerance to the test.
An attitude that manifested itself not only in the art but also in the artists’ demeanor—a self-assured, casual group of young rebels who made headlines with their excesses and public appearances and tapped into a nerve with their art. This approach is also evident in the 1985 work “Am Wasser.” Dominated by subdued shades of brown and beige— a deliberate choice of anti-aesthetic colors—Albert Ohlen places an indefinable object at the center of the composition, one that appears to be modeled after a boat hull or an architectural structure. Its lower tip touches an invisible water surface, suggested merely by three simple, dark-blue circles. A reflection can be surmised, yet the background remains undefined. What appears to be an unfinished sketch is, in truth, a deliberate dismantling of traditional pictorial motifs. Even the reflection in the water—a symbol steeped in art history, representing self-reflection, truth, and beauty—becomes, in Oehlen’s work, an empty sign that remains incomprehensible without a narrative context. So what exactly is there to see, analyze, and understand here? Most likely, “Am Wasser” is an active invitation to engage with the provocation, to accept it as a work that intentionally eludes all interpretation. It is painterly, perfected imperfection and anti-aesthetics, and ultimately an expression of Albert Oehlen’s truth of painting. This truth is characterized by the fact that its images “require no excuses…no justifications.” [AR]