Markus Oehlen (born 1956) is a German painter, sculpture and musician. In the 1970s and 80s he was a founding member of the influential

neo-expressionist Neo-expressionism is a style of Late modernism, late modernist or early-Postmodern art, postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wild ...

art movement Neue Wilde in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, alongside Martin Kippenberger,

Markus Lüpertz Markus Lüpertz (born 25 April 1941) is a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and writer. He also publishes a magazine, and plays jazz piano. He is one of the best-known German contemporary artists. His subjects are characterized by suggest ...

, and his brother Albert Oehlen.

Biography

Markus Oehlen was born in

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

. His father, Adolf Oehlen, was a graphic designer and cartoonist. Oehlen completed an apprenticeship as a technical draftsman, from 1971 to 1973. He studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, from 1976 to 1982, where he was a student with

Alfonso Hüppi Alfonso Hüppi (born 11 February 1935) is a Switzerland, Swiss painter. Biography Hüppi was born 11 February 1935 in Switzerland. He was trained from 1950 to 1954 in Lucerne, Switzerland as a silversmith and worked as a journeyman until 19 ...

. In 1977 he met Martin Kippenberger. In 1981 he formed the “Church of Indifference” together with Werner Büttner and his brother Albert. In the same year he exhibited at Rundschau Deutschland. In 1984 he was represented at the exhibition ''From Here - Two Months of New German Art'', in

. In 1987 he received the Berlin Art Prize. In 1993 he held the exhibition “Projects 39”, together with Georg Herold, at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Since 2002, Oehlen has held a professorship at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Since 2017, Oehlen has been working in a studio built by Westner Schührer Zöhrer in the north of

. The house was awarded the Bauwelt Prize in 2019 and an award at the BDA Prize Bavaria.

Artwork

Oehlen is one of the main representatives of the Neue Wilden. His works are a commentary on the standardized values of the bourgeoisie. Oehlen's work presents a revolt, in a sort punk style, often in dark-toned imagery against the apathy caused by prosperity in the 1980s and to

minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

art. Following the tradition of

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

and

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...

, he worked to dismantle traditional concepts of art. What is characteristic of his paintings is the overlaying of various motifs in a dense, impasto style and the borrowings from pop culture. His diverse working techniques and layered image structure suggests a comparison with the effect of sampling in contemporary music. In addition to painting, he also creates sculptures from Styrofoam bodies.

Musical activity

Oehlen was a member of the punk band Charley's Girls, and also of Mittagspause and Fehlfarben. He worked mainly as a drummer in the music project Flying Klassenfield, among others. He also worked as a DJ at Ratinger Hof.Markus Oehlen
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oehlen, Markus 1956 births Living people German contemporary artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists 21st-century German painters 21st-century German male artists German male drummers