Gerhard Richter, Untitled, 30.5.1999, 1999. Graphite on paper, 11 7/8 x 8 5/16 inches. Private collection, Berlin.

Gerhard Richter’s lines are full of contradiction. At a glance, they appear to be gestural; pencil scribbles making vague, abstract shapes. They seem simple, bordering child-like. But a closer inspection reveals how astoundingly beautiful the marks are. They have an unclassifiable quality to them, a subtle gyration and throbbing sway. They seem both confident and tentative at once, refusing to be solidly classified as either, but also refusing any middle ground. They are somehow both, fully and without dilution. They are beautiful, intriguing, and mesmerizing. And yet, Richter removes himself from the process as much as possible. The drawings were made by taking a pencil, inserting it into a drill, and using the spinning vibrations to create the lines. He dispels the notion that the artist’s touch is important.

To limit a description of Richter’s work to his lines would be doing them a disservice. These aren’t merely contour drawings, but complex explorations of materials. The paper is filled with graphite, natural patterns arising from the drawing tool, the paper surface, etc. Often, the drawing is smudged and blurred. The abstracted images almost coalesce into something tangible, but like a distant memory, they linger but never solidify.

Nowhere is this more evident than in a series of four large-scale drawings hung at the far wall. They have a haunting quality to them; a fog where shapes hint at emergence. There are points of aggression–two sets of erasure marks angrily cutting into a rectangular form. On another, an erasure line ripping through the drawing, separating two vaguely rectangular shapes. Recall the imagery of the 9/11 attacks, and you have the key to interpreting the drawings. Suddenly, the clues slam together and become perhaps the most subtle, intricate, and poignant art pieces done by any artist in response to the attack.

Gerhard Richter: “Lines which do not exist”, On view at theDrawing Center from September 11-November 18, 2010

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 12th, 2010 at 7:06 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.