“The Skateroom’s main purpose is to empower youth through art & skateboarding. We are incredibly grateful to launch this edition with Albert Oehlen at Palazzo Grassi. Collaborating with visionary artists such as Albert Oehlen is not only humbling but also inspiring since it allows us to support an NGO and build a skate park in some part of the world.”
Charles-Antoine Bodson
Skateistan is an award-winning international non-profit organization empowering children and youth through skateboarding and education in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa. Through their innovative programs; Outreach, Skate and Create, back-to-School and Youth Leadership, Skateistan aims to give youth the opportunity to become leaders for a better world.
Through the sale of these editions, The Skateroom commits to donate 10% of the turnover to Skateistan in the name of the artist.
Contemporary German artist Albert Oehlen was born in Krefeld, Germany in 1954. In 1977, he moved to Berlin and became influenced by artists such as Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter and Georg Baselitz. The process of painting was an important factor for Oehlen. He embraced the Neo-Expressionist style and began combining abstract and figurative elements into his paintings. He has continued to experiment with different techniques and styles.
Oehlen’s use of computer enhanced sketches incorporated into his painting through the use of computer-aided design (CAD) and inkjet printers has led to his work being described as free-radical in the 1990’s.
Albert Oehlen work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museet for Samtidskunst in Denmark, the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg and numerous others. Most recently, in 2014, one of Albert Oehlen’s pieces sold for 1,8 million at a Christie’s auction in New York. It was self-portrait he had painted thirty years before.
