Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter.

Brünings Ohne Titel

After looking at the way my work had developed as I ventured further into abstract art it had moved away from the sparse marks of Brüning's work. The marks I made had become denser and focusing more on layering up colours. This caused me to look more into artists such as Gerhard Richter there is a more obvious connection to his work within my more recent pieces.

Catalogue  865-1 170cm x 120cm oil alu dibond

2000

Richter is a German artist who studied painting at the time of the German communist regime which took away the freedom of many artists and caused a vast amount of it to be geared towards political propaganda. Meaning as a young artists Richter was caused to limit his paintings to mainly landscapes. However, many years later Richter encountered the work of the new Abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock, his innovative style of painting caused Richter to break out of the realism he had been trapped in. In light of this change in style Richter destroyed many of his earlier paintings from the 50’s and 60’s. Richter began to trace figures onto canvas however many of paintings held no resemblance to the subjects of the photographs he was studying. The colours and marks he used caused the viewer to look more at the raw shapes and to not be distracted by what was the ‘pictures implied content or its emotional element of humanity’. It was in 1966 that his work became something that my style relates to, he began to layer paint with expressive and aggressive movements using unusual means such as squeegees or rollers. In the later years he gave all of his work the generic title of ‘Abstract Painting’ I Found that the collection ranging from 2000-2004 has the greatest and strongest link to the style I have taken on. 


Looking at a particular mark within Richter's piece (catalogue 865-2) I noticed that many of the marks I had made in my first larger scale image mirrored this style. He has seemingly dragged a single colour through the centre of the rest of the paint on the surface, creating an almost branch like protrusion. In many of the pieces I have completed sharp, branch like extensions flow through the image ( much like in the section of one of my pieces above.) I have found that within my pieces unlike in Richter's there is a wider use of brighter colours. However after looking at detail at Richter's pieces I think more muted tones with subtle suggestions to colour seems to be far more successful. 

2000

Catalogue 868-6 147cm x 102cm

Oil on canvas 

Once again looking at the marks made particularity this piece by Richter mirrors the way I have been applying paint to a surface. For many of the pieces of work that I have both inside and out of my sketchbook, I have been using cardboard as a means of applying paint. This creates the straight, block like mark across a surface. In this piece in particularity the deep red used by Richter links with the clear colour theme of warm harmonies that my work has developed. Comparatively to Richter almost wash of colour, I have been layering paint on generously in order to bring texture back into my artwork. After looking in detail at both Richter's and Brüning's work it is clear to me that the style I have developed over my time on this course has stronger connections to the work of Richter. This is something that I am planning to expand on within the studio. Using the process of presenting my work on the boards for the upcoming presentation it will give me a clear platform to show the development of mark making.