DANIEL RICHTER. HELLO, I LOVE YOU
Exhibition view
DANIEL RICHTER.
Hello, I love you, 2015
Daniel Richter at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt From October 9, 2015, to January 17, 2016, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is presenting ‘Hello, I love you’, exhibiting a new series by the German painter Daniel Richter in a focused solo presentation.]]>
Source: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
Around 30 paintings, which will be presented to the public for the first time in the Schirn, mark a caesura in the artist’s oeuvre. Daniel Richter (* 1962) is one of the influential artists of his generation; since the late 1990s his works have been celebrated in numerous exhibitions. In his new works Richter breaks with all that seemed familiar in his painting hitherto. In the past two years he has focused on a question which represents a challenge for him: “How can a picture be reduced formally while being charged at the same time as regards content?” In his search for answers and solutions Richter has developed a new pictorial language which defies the customary motifs and painting methods as well as the familiar colours and themes. His works are characterised by a remarkable stylistic complexity and versatility: From about the year 2000 he confronted the abstract-ornamental paintings created from the mid-1990s with large-format, more strongly figurative and narrative pictures of a socio-political reality.
The new series included two groups of works. In one of them Richter focuses on the observation of the body and corporeality. In his previous works the human body was strongly contoured and always embedded in a superordinate narrative. Richter has retained the stereotyped and fleshless character of the figures, but now goes further. His interest lies above all in the surface. He allows the forms to blur and thereby lets the figures dissolve. In this way a fragmented, shattered physicality prevails. The figures are flat and intertwined; the forms crash mercilessly into each other and hint at the uncontrolled human sexuality, which becomes visually reinforced in pornography.
Richter developed his latest works by starting out with the line and paint. In his new works the line is not only a purely formal means of reduction, but also the starting point for pictorial design. At the same time it symbolises Richter’s ideas of pictorial systems and schemes which help humans to comprehend and to represent pictorially the phenomena of reality. The latter becomes especially clear in the other group of works. Based on diagrams with which data, content or information are visualised, Richter paints amoeba-like areas on a monochrome background. The works recall maps or representations of territorial boundaries. All the paintings in the new series impress with their materiality. Richter dispenses almost entirely with painting with a paintbrush. Unlike his older works he shades all the colours he uses with white. With the exception of the background of the picture he uses only oil pastels for these new works. This leads to a fundamentally transformed appearance. Richter also avoids a clear symbolism and leaves no room for anecdotal interpretations. And yet his pictures reflect his powerful attitude to art and the world.
Related content
Daniel Richter: major survey at Denver Art Museum (exhibition, 2008)
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