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Quote by Gerhard Richter

“I started doing 'figures', then, one day, all of a sudden, I started doing abstraction. And then I started doing both. But it was never really a conscious decision. It was simply a question of desire. In fact, I really prefer making figurative work, but the figure is difficult. So to work around the difficulty I take a break and paint abstractly. Which I really like, by the way, because it allows me to make beautiful paintings.”

Quote by Gerhard Richter

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Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter

German visual artist known for his unique painting style and diverse creative techniques. Richter's works span a wide range of styles from abstraction to figuration, and his career has spanned over half a century, profoundly influencing contemporary art. more

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“My method is related to an attempt to do something that might be understood by today's world, or that could at least provide understanding. In other words, doing something I understand and that everyone understands. This natural desire for communication is also found in other domains, like reading and discourse, etc. I also hate repeating myself; it gives me no pleasure whatsoever. Once I've understood something, I need to start off on new ground.”

WorldNeedsGivingArtMightTodayDesireHateReadingFoundUnderstandingNaturalPleasurePaintingCommunicationUnderstoodGive MeMethodRelatedEtcDiscourseDomainToday's World
Author:Gerhard Richter
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“The grey is certainly inspired by the photo-paintings, and, of course, it's related to the fact that I think grey is an important colour - the ideal colour for indifference, fence-sitting, keeping quiet, despair. In other words, for states of being and situations that affect one, and for which one would like to find a visual expression.”

ThinkingArtImportantStatesFactsCoursesSituationPaintingExpressionQuietDespairSittingIdealsInspiredIndifferenceRelatedVisualsColourGreyFenceKeeping Quiet
Book:Gerhard Richter: writings 1961-2007
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“Only about one per cent of my paintings show family members. Do they help me deal with problems? It's likely that these problems can only be depicted. But photographs, private ones and others, keep appearing that fascinate me so much that I want to paint them. And sometimes the real meaning these images have for me only becomes apparent later.”

WantArtRealSometimesHelpingShowsProblemDealsPaintingMembersPaintPhotographHelp MeCentsAppearingFamily Members
Author:Gerhard Richter
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“I first came up with the idea for the colour-chart pictures back in 1966, and my preoccupation with the topic culminated in 1974 with a painting that consisted of 4,096 colour fields. Initially I was attracted by the typical Pop Art aestheticism of using standard colour-sample cards; I preferred the unartistic, tasteful and secular illustration of the different tones to the paintings of Albers, Bill, Calderara, Lohse, etc.”

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Book:Gerhard Richter: writings 1961-2007
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“Turning to the colour-classification methodology: The starting point are the four pure colours red, yellow, green and blue; their in-between shades and scales of brightness result in colour schemes containing 16, 64, 256 and 1,024 shades. More colours would be pointless because it wouldn't be possible to distinguish between them clearly.”

ArtWould BeResultsFourPaintingPureRedBlueGreenStartingScalesColourShadeYellowSchemesPointlessBrightnessStarting PointContainingMethodologyClassificationColour Red
Book:Gerhard Richter: writings 1961-2007
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