Tree Blue is a work of art from the series of tree paintings by Albert Oehlen. These are permutations of an ongoing series that Oehlen began more than thirty years ago. For this iteration, he limited his palette to black and red, or blue in a few. On a bright white background, black lines follow the irregular movements of the hand, while red or blue gradations are contained within geometric figures of a more digital register. The black, moving lines take on a representative function, as if measuring their own relationship to the red, stationary surfaces. Using a new technical approach, Tree Paintings are allover, polychromatic images in which Albert Oehlen stages contrasts between clear contours and amorphous blurs. On surfaces of clean, uniform color, he applies insatiable sprays, drips, and strokes of muddy greens and grays, as well as deep reds and flesh tones, further complicating his fusion of erasure and amplification.