Today was the last day at Tate Modern for the exhibition of Gerhard Richter and I got on my bike to go see the retrospective of this great painter.
The exhibition covered a large selection of his work and showed in that way that retrospectives can give you a glimpse into the development of imagination. This exhibit displayed his early dark and sombre work to the later colorful and atmospheric series Cage 1-6. They are layers of color that are then dragged with a squeegee that resemble nature: water, woods, sky, trees, light reflection. They are beautiful and calm.
Richter survived the bombing of Dresden, whether this effected his imagination, one can only guess, but his early paintings of simple domestic objects and family are all tones and shades of gray with sombre and blurred brushed strokes, like a memory that won't fade, is fading or persisting.
Paint charts from hardware stores and paint companies are endlessly attractive. There is something about color arranged neatly on cards that fascinate us. Richter like so many of us was equally fascinated by these charts. It lead to a series of paintings of color blocks. An exploration.
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