Albert Oehlen steps behind the camera to present a portrait of himself, in life and at work, albeit substituted by actor and similarly brazen iconoclast Udo Kier, with musician Kim Gordon as his inner self, interviewer and judge. Moving through time, ”Bad Painter” grapples with the former Neue Wilde artist’s legacy in life and the tempestuous, all-consuming art world. Not so much a mockumentary as a playful takedown of artistic portraits Oehlen’s film is very much a portrait of the artist as a force of nature. – IFF Rotterdam
Albert Oehlen
DE, USA 2025 | German Premiere
80 min | English
Albert Oehlen
Born in Krefeld in 1954. Studied at the HFBK Hamburg under Sigmar Polke. Professor at the Düsseldorf State Art Academy. He lives and works in Switzerland.
Along with Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, A. R. Penck, Martin Kippenberger, his brother Markus Oehlen, and Moritz Reichelt, he belongs to the “Neue Wilde” (New Wild Ones), whose neo-expressionist painting style is sometimes referred to in English as “Bad Painting.” Founded a label for electronic music; in the 1990s, he was a member of the band Red Krayola.
Bad Painter is his directorial debut, following Der Maler (2021) by Oliver Hirschbiegel, for which he co-wrote the screenplay with Ben Becker.
Films (selection)
Bad Painter 2025
R+B: Albert Oehlen | DOP: Sven Kirsten | E: Toni Froschhammer, Marco Capalbo | S: Blake Christian | P: Albert Oehlen, Charlotte Taschen, Felix von Boehm | With Udo Kier, Charlotte Taschen, Kim Gordon, Grace Zabriskie, Michael Chow