Reviews

The exhibition presents twelve works by Richter which demonstrate the range of different styles in his painting from blurred figurative photo paintings to abstract pictures.  The exhibition will also include the only video work Richter ever made, which has recently been rediscovered and has only been shown at the Videonale in Bonn and at the Kunstverein Hannover. These works by Richter will be placed in dialogue with works by seven international contemporary artists:  Xie Nanxing (China); Wolfgang Tillmans (Germany); Lorenzo Banci (Italy); Antony Gormley and Roger Hiorns (UK); and Marc Breslin and Scott Short (USA); who all share Richter a profound distrust of the image as a guarantee of truth.      

Antony Gormley, Clearing V, 2009, Tubo di alluminio 16 swg, 11 km, 12,7 mm x 12,7mm Veduta dell'installazione, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, 2009, Photo: Markus Tretter © The artist

Gerhard Richter, one of the best-known and most sought-after living painters, has made the theme of the disappearance of the image a hallmark of his work and laid the foundation for the next generation of artists.  Richter, one of the pioneers in depicting the dissolution of both the motif and the medium, paints over original pictures or uses a blurred painting technique.  He deliberately selects trivial or random motifs as the starting point for his paintings.  Well aware of the power of images, Richter strives to break or at least question their authority by making his pictures merge or disappear. 

Lorenzo Banci, Senza titolo, 2006, Olio su tela, 131 x 100 cm, Photo: Serge Domingie, Courtesy Niccolò Pap

He plays with reality and appearance and converts figurative images into abstract ones by focusing, for example, on fragmentary details.  He pioneered the use of existing images as the basis of his paintings, primarily as a means of transferring the characteristics of one medium to another, and for placing different genres on an equal footing.  Through his entire body of work, Richter addresses the difference between subjective perception and the objective experience of reality in which the artist can only offer possible approaches to address the difficult relationship between the object and its representation.  The video also continues this theme, showing out-of-focus portraits and silhouettes of his friend Volker Bradke.   The CCCS has invited seven contemporary artists who also use the dissolution of the image to engage in a dialogue with Richter's work.  To maintain their own artistic identity, the work of each artist will be presented in its own space.

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Further info
Gerhard Richter e la dissolvenza dell'immagine