Albert Oehlen

Albert Oehlen

Piece, 2003, oil on canvas

Mirage of Steel, 2003, oil on canvas

Albert Oehlen's paintings are neither beautiful nor seductive. Their self-consciously brutal surfaces seem to be corrupted from within, a perversion of the paintings they might have been. Link to Saatchi Gallery. 

He combines aspects of figural sexuality, mechanical distance, and painterly abstraction. It is possible to find representations of objects or figures in his mostly-abstracted works, although he exposes the limitations of both.

Formally, puddles and washes convey a refracted, dreamlike sensibility. He plays with depth perception and foreground/background relationship. Some of his compositions seem rushed and crowded, while others seem discouragingly bare.

Other works not shown here are mixed media on panel, inkjet prints, and collaborative works with other artists.

Bernard Frize

Bernard Frize

Vibisi, 2001, acrylic and resin on canvas

Neobi, 2004, acrylic and resin on canvas

Bernard Frize is a French artist whose works question the materiality and processes of painting. Viewers often wonder how he creates his seemingly impossible line variations and patterns.

Formally, he uses acrylic and resin to create works that appear to have entered the world fully formed. He works on a large scale and uses a variety of often unusual colors. They appear sort of like he melted crayons and then drew with them.

He creates process paintings that have been compared to a choreographed dance. He created Reciproque by following directions shouted to him by someone else in the room.

His line work is comparative to Karin Davie.

Fabian Marcaccio

Fabian Marcaccio

The Predator, 2001, mixed media installation

Fabian Marcaccio extroverts abstraction by deconstructing, dissecting, unraveling, and reconstructing Modernist ideals of painting. He creates sculptural composites with mixed media.

Formally he uses canvas as both a support and an image. He uses clear silicone gel to enhance the textural quality of brushstrokes.

He works with themes of manipulation, destruction, and reconstruction. His work could be considered abstract or non representational.

He says he engages the generic elements of painting to create mutual betrayals.

Jane Callister

Jane Callister

Yellow Falls, 2005, acrylic on paper

Jane Callister challenges notions of representation through her unique paint application process. Rather than painting onto the canvas, she pours and drips paint and other materials. In addition to questions of abstraction vs representation, she also challenges figure vs ground, color vs line, content vs form, and personal vs political.

Visually they include hard-edged drips, lacy stalagtites, and melted ice cream colors.

Her earlier works include representations of human bodies, but in her more recent works they are only implied. Now, she includes off-the-wall additions to her canvases.