Gerhard Richter

By: Leah Hoffman

Gerhard Richter is a German painter who has work varying from photo-realism to abstract paintings. I have heard his name a lot in different environments and looking into his work further I was beyond impressed. The thing that most strikes me about Richter's body of work is his ability to be successful in so many different styles. His abstract paintings look like he just dragged a palette across a canvas. His process essentially does involve him dragging paint across the canvas.  Still the paintings have a sense of unity, and the color choice, layout, and execution are all intentional and do not seem overly chaotic. It evokes kind of a peaceful chaos, and it causes the eye to get lost and almost lose focus but still stay interested.

His realism paintings are what I am drawn to the most. His portraits especially look extremely lifelike but they do not lose any distinction of being a painting as opposed to a photograph. His work all seems to have a haze or blurriness across it, but the fact that he does not lose control over his ability to make the figure still seem as if it is actually there is beyond impressive to me. He has an immaculate ability to express the slightest differences is values and light in a soft but accurate way.