German painter Albert Oehlen’s continuously morphing style has been associated with ‘bad painting’ and a sense of being “on the way to becoming something else,” two qualities which linked him in his mind to another celebrated and influential artist, Paul McCarthy who he has invited to show with him now at Gagosian Gallery. Oehlen’s new work features a recurring abstracted form resembling a corporate logo, a modified pi symbol or, in proximity to the figurative sculpture by McCarthy, a squat torso with two long legs. Seen in various color combinations and even as a cast aluminum sculpture, the form merges with or boldly erupts from fields of gestural abstraction. Here, the ambiguous shape appears defaced by paint, a suggestion that the medium still has power to shake things up. (On view in Chelsea through April 22nd).
