While German painting of the postwar period essentially concerned itself with coming to terms with the past and presenting it in gestures ranging from the heroic to the ironic, Daniel Richter focuses on positioning himself in the present. Time and again he devises new ways of being "modern" in a medium that has long been labeled old-fashioned and anachronistic. His pictures constantly challenge the spectator by their painterly and contextually excessive demands, but they do not lecture on moral issues. In five chapters featuring more than 200 examples of his works, the author Eva Meyer-Hermann traces the chronological development of Richter's artistic output for the first time. The turns from abstraction to figuration and back again that until now have been described as abrupt, prove on closer examination to be a logical consequence and a sign of conscious artistic action.

The paintings of Albert Oehlen live by audacious strategies, by questioning the image and the rules of abstraction, and by an openness and beauty often reached through the unlikeliest of means. In this expansive monograph, we meet the full range of Oehlen's artistic thoughts and approaches: paintings that integrate mirrors, paintings that are executed strictly in primary colors or only in gray, heavily pixelated paintings produced with the help of one of the first personal computers. We find collaged fragments of garish poster ads on canvases that transforming screaming slogans into abstract elements, charcoal drawings the size of a wall, finger paintings, and paintings in which black treelike silhouettes contort themselves into a lexicon of abstract forms. Throughout, Oehlen transforms the conceptual into the compositional, at once invigorating and challenging the viewer. Revising and updating TASCHEN's previous Collector's Edition, this revelatory survey explores Oehlen's trajectory from his early days up to the present. It features more than 400 paintings as well as insightful commentaries and interviews, covering Oehlen's different work stages and approaches. Roberto Ohrt's essay takes us back to the special vibe of the early 1980s where Oehlen worked alongside Kippenberger, Buttner, and others, part of a scene that painted quickly and close to the pulse of time. Oehlen discusses his computer paintings with John Corbett, and follows up on his more recent work, his thoughts on art, and his day in the studio in a lengthy conversation with Alexander Klar. Together with a collection of shorter texts and statements, this brings us close to the ideas of an artist who has been dubbed "the most resourceful abstract painter alive."

This is the definitive monograph of Oehlen's work to date. This XL retrospective explores Albert Oehlen's entire career chronologically and examines his creative process via in-depth texts. Limited to 1,000 copies, each numbered and signed by the artist.Albert Oehlen seeks the limits of painting in his work, challenging viewers to abandon their instinctive expectations. His early work in the late 1970s - when painting was decidedly out of fashion - was associated with a so-called 'bad painting' movement, in that it aimed at challenging ideas about what makes a painting 'good' or 'bad'; a recent exhibition in London was, somewhat ironically, entitled 'I Will Always Champion Good Painting'. With an approach he describes as 'post-non-representational', Oehlen uses painting not only as a way to convey meaning, but also as a means of exploring the function a painting can serve - often a painting's title itself gives the work an entirely new dimension. Never without a touch of tongue-in-cheek humor, his work seems to be winking at us as it dares us to change the way we look at art. Combining subtlety and sophistication with chaos and brutality, Oehlen has left an indelible mark on contemporary painting.This XL monograph explores all groups of Oehlen's work chronologically via genre-oriented approach, such as mud-colored paintings, mirror paintings, computer paintings, and so forth. Like a series of interlocking episodes, the chapters of the book draw the reader into a complex drama of constantly evolving themes. In-depth texts get to the root of Oehlen's creative process, and an exhaustive bibliography and biography round out this comprehensive study. While Oehlen fans will rejoice at the publication of this breathtaking book, no one with an interest in contemporary art can afford pass up this unique opportunity to discover Oehlen's work. And to anyone who says painting is obsolete: we beg to differ. This book is also available in an Art Edition, limited to 100 copies and with an original artwork by Albert Oehlen.