Gerhard Richter - Photographs

Gerhard Richter has such a unique style in his painting, layering and scraping paints across the canvas to create abstract compositions that we could get lost in for days. Lucky for us he has transferred this technique into his photography work so we have a whole other body of work to get lost in!⁠⁠
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When you look at the body of Richter’s work; his use of colour, his hallmark “blur”, the effect of landscapes in the paintings, his both figurative and abstract modes on the paintings, his use of different techniques on photographic printmaking; you can not help but feel that he lived all of his life as the artist he is; working, learning, investigating, producing at a vigorous pace— he is an immensely productive, innovative, prolific artist who famously said “My concern is never art, but always what art can be used for”. ⁠⁠
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His 1996 “Self-portrait” is one of the most striking portraits for us, which originates from a photograph and the artist’s technique of using a dry brush to blur the composition, of which he explains: "I blur things to make everything equally important and equally unimportant. I blur things so that they do not look artistic or craftsmanlike but technological, smooth and perfect. I blur things to make all the parts a closer fit. Perhaps I also blur out the excess of unimportant information.” ⁠⁠
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He also works with found photographs, an example is the repainting of a media image from 9/11 attacks, concealing it with blue and grey paint streaks. He has been working on this technique since 1989; where he drags wet paint over photographs; mostly documentary photographs of daily life, making it feel like an interaction between his personal life and works. ⁠⁠
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Gerhard Richter is a living legend, who has been very confident in the unknown of art, and whom has always been ahead of his time, from his early works to this day, we can see how well his works would transfer to VR art and NFTs too. ⁠⁠
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Do you have a favourite Gerhard Richter work? Let us know.⁠⁠