Art I Like: Gerhard Richter

I have been thinking more about the subject of my art history essay, and begun looking seriously at information about modern colourist painters.  And where better to start than with Gerhard richter, not least because there is a major retrospective exhibition of his work on at Tate Modern at present (until January 2012) which I really want to go and sees.  There is a film on Tate Channel of Richter talking to Nicholas Serota, Tate Director, about the show, and some film of him at work on his big abstract colour paintings, and about the business of selecting, designing and installing the exhibition itself.

The link is here Gerhard Richter Panorama film on Tate Channel

What I found particularly interesting was his very calm and almost casual approach to his work, there is no urgency, no hurry, paintings can take him weeks or even months to do.  Serota asked him "how do you know when an abstract painting is finished?" and Richter replied "I don't know, I just know, suddenly, that there is nothing more to be added, and it is done".  

I really like Richter's colour series, simple blocks and stripes of colour.  I especially warm to his huge canvasses covered with small squares of colour, some of them like a decorator's colour card, the bigger ones more like postage stamp quilts.   These remind me of so many of my own quilt designs.  The selection of put bright and random colours, and the vibrant effect that can come from their placement in huge numbers, is compelling and also endlessly interesting.


This is a rather nice portrait of Richter from The Guardian Arts Blog....

Gerhard Richter, whose work will be featured in a forthcoming Tate Modern exhibition, pictured with 4900 Colours: Version II. Photograph: Graeme Robertson, copied from the Guardian Blog, 7th Sept 2011