Gerhard Richter’s work in oil on cardboard bares a date “3.3.94” and is a typical example for the artists’ approach on abstract and non-representational painting. Here, Richter superimposes several layers of paint on top of one another and reworks them with a scraper, so that the layers of paint as well as the overall impression of the pictorial surface acquire a unique liveliness and a distinguished surface feel – all in order to challenge the viewer’s usual habit of perception.
Since the underlying colours are only partial visible, one suspects the white topmost layer to have possibly covered and alienated a figurative, legible representation. This artistic technique is comparable to the effect that Richter also achieves in his renowned overpainted photographs. The white in itself, applied in this manner, takes over a seemingly figurative role, appears as if in motion, growing and actively spreading over the painting. It is this thick, haptic surface that gives the painting its distinct appeal: it confers paint into a materiality; transforms pure colour into an active object.
This play on illusion and mimesis as opponents of pure abstraction is what Richter examines in painting. He challenges boundaries to aim at the viewers lack in perception; between the real, “true” materiality of colour and the usually anticipated representational nature of painting. In addition to this, titling each painting with a specific date manifests a diary-like character. Each work becomes something like a brief snapshot within a larger and continuous artistic search.
