Kind 1989

This is a painting by Gerhard Richter, made using squeegees to drag paint across the canvas. Imagine the physicality of that gesture! You can see the colors mixing and separating as they’re pulled down the surface. The texture is built up, with some areas thick and almost sculptural, and others thin and translucent. I wonder what Richter was thinking when he made this. Was he trying to capture a sense of movement, or maybe just exploring the properties of paint itself? The drips and splatters, they remind me of a rainy day, but also of the sheer joy of playing with color. It’s like he’s inviting us to witness a process, to see painting not as a representation of something, but as an event in itself. Richter is in conversation with a whole history of painters like de Kooning. It’s all about feeling your way through the medium, embracing chance, and discovering new ways of seeing.