German artist Albert Oehlen doesn’t have a very high opinion of the materials he uses to produce his collage works – supermarket and billboard advertising with an aesthetic he describes as “ghastly”. These ads do, however, have an extremely forceful visual impact, and that’s one quality that Oehlen finds both useful and interesting in his work.

Now living and working in Switzerland, Oehlen has been exhibiting at Berlin’s Galerie Max Hetzler since 1981, but towards the end of the last decade the normally serious painter changed direction to a more pop-art style. He was, he says, worried about being a bit too sober, and wanted to do something more immediate and fun, and so turned to low-end advertising as a source of inspiration and material. Oehlen now culls particularly horrible examples from German and Spanish supermarkets – the gaudier the better – but underneath lies a far more subtle element to his work. His latest series Interieurs plays with the form of furniture and building structures, shaping the adverts to represent these aspects in ways that are not always obvious. Speaking of interiors, this exhibition, running until 19 October, marks the opening of a new Galerie Max Hetzler space on Bleibtreustraße 45.

Albert Oehlen
l 36, 2013
paper on canvas
2 parts: 230 x 360 cm; each 230 x 180 cm
Courtesy: Albert Oehlen & Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Photo: Lothar Schnepf

Albert Oehlen
I3, 2009
paper on canvas 170 x 240 cm
Courtesy: Albert Oehlen & Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Photo: Stefan Rohner

Albert Oehlen
l 31, 2011
paper on canvas 230 x 170 cm
Courtesy: Albert Oehlen & Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Photo: Lothar Schnepf

Albert Oehlen
I4, 2009
paper on canvas 170 x 230 cm
Courtesy: Albert Oehlen & Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Photo: Stefan Rohner