Gerhard Richter exhibition in K20
Gerhard Richter: Rosen, 1994. Oil on canvas, 46 x 51 cm, private collection. © Gerhard Richter
Yesterday evening I visited a phenomenal exhibition in Düsseldorf's K20 - Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen: Gerhard Richter. Richter is one of the most important artists of our time. He has created beautiful paintings with representational motifs as well as completely abstract images. His landscapes are absolutely magnificent. Taking photographies as the basis he creates blurry images of the present. The title of the painting does not always match what we see. Waldhaus (House in the forrest), for example, shows the house only partially at the right border of the picture, the rest is forrest and mountains. You feel like you are drawn into the picture and yet you feel strangely repelled by it: the bluriness, the smeary yet clear painting technique. This makes his paintings very interesting and absolutely great to have in your living room. However, one needs to have big cash to afford this as Richter is the most expensive living artist.
The exhibition not only showed the realistic paintings but also his abstract work, like the different variations of Grau (Grey). I am extremely suspicious when it comes to abstract art. I simply cannot see anything, it does not give me anything. There is no purpose in it (Unless, naturelich, you want to predict you are an art expert). It's not fun looking at it. Why is a completely grey painting exciting. It is nothing, it's dull, it's grey. Wonderful, you can do this with your computer. Even MS Paint is able to give you quite a lot of shades of grey. Below is an example pf one of Richter's abstract paintings: at least they are colorful.
Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Picture), 1992. Oil on aluminum panel. Private collection. © Gerhard Richter
Richter has some true originality in his work. I find this striking: Vorhang looks so real you can really see it moving (it won't come across in the picture below). He is versatile and cannot be restricted to just one style. That's probably what I like best the diversity and richness of his works.
Gerhard Richter. Vorhang III (hell) | Curtain III (bright), 1965, Oil on canvas, 200 x 195 cm. Neue Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
And here is my absolute favorite (which is unfortunately not shown in Düsseldorf but is currently exhibited in the Louisiana museum (located close to Copenhagen, Denmark). Richter's Lesende is such a wonderful innuendo towards Vermeers paintings - I simply LOVE it.
Lesende (Reader), 1994. Oil on linen. Collection SFMOMA, purchased through the gifts of Mimi and Peter Haas and Helen and Charles Schwab, and the Accessions Committee Fund. © Gerhard Richter.
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