“Albert Oehlen: Fn Paintings”

A key figure in Germany’s Cologne art scene of the 1980s, Oehlen was a student of Sigmar Polke, and one of the first painters to allude to digital technology in his work. In 1990, he created his “Fn” (for footnote) series, a group of compositions distinguished by chaotic skeins of Expressionistic marks and figurative fragments. A reflection on the “failures of painting,” as Oehlen put it, “FN” wrung good taste from bad, marking a seminal development in his career.