Townscape D 1968

Gerhard Richter made this townscape, one of a series, using oil paint in shades of grey. You can feel the artist working with deliberation here, building up the surface with small, rectangular brushstrokes. I wonder what it was like for Richter, standing in front of the canvas, palette in hand, figuring out how to represent such a complex scene? The paint is applied in a mosaic-like fashion, each stroke carefully placed to create the overall image. It’s like he’s translating the world into a language of paint, where each stroke is a word, and the painting is the poem. Look at how he varies the direction and weight of each stroke. This is how the artist is thinking, isn't it? He must have looked closely at the world, abstracting and rebuilding it. Richter’s practice builds on earlier art historical movements like Impressionism and Cubism, but it develops its own unique language. The conversation between artists across time never ceases to amaze me, and isn’t it funny that we get to eavesdrop?