Townscape 1969

Gerhard Richter made this painting, Townscape, with deliberate, blocky gestures and a monochrome palette of grays, whites, and blacks. I imagine him standing before the canvas, squinting to focus on the shapes of buildings and negative space. It's so Richter to make something so precise feel so ambiguous. You can see how the paint is applied in these distinct marks, almost like tiles fitting together. The surface has this amazing tension, as the flat shapes create depth through contrast and tonal variation. He may have been thinking about the way buildings intersect with the sky, how light and shadow define our perception of the urban environment. This work reminds me of the abstract expressionists, but Richter's is more restrained. It feels like a conversation between representation and abstraction, a dialogue artists have been having for centuries. It’s like he’s whispering about the uncertainty of seeing and knowing.