E. Baker reviews the exhibition Albert Oehlen: New Paintings at Gagosian Beverley Hills, on view through July 18, 2014.

Baker writes that the show "[showcases] the artist’s continued interests in both abstract painterly gesture and the intersections of modernity with the act of painting… In his new series of four-part paintings on aluminum panels, Oehlen uses a palette limited to red, black and white, with which he creates tree-like figures. The tree has presented itself as a motif throughout Oehlen’s body of work since the 1980s, and his current tree works have been carefully handpainted to look like the ‘clean’ digital marks of design software. He intentionally flattens the color, surface, and content through cut-and-paste techniques, questioning the most essential tools of painting while contrasting the traditional technique and practice of painting with the newer, simpler, and faster methods."