Événement

GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING APR 6-12, Doc, NR, 97 minutes German w/English Subtitle

One of the world's greatest living painters, the German artist Gerhard Richter has spent over half a century experimenting with a tremendous range of techniques and ideas, addressing historical crises and mass media representation alongside explorations of chance procedures. The first glimpse inside his studio in decades, Gerhard Richter Painting is exactly that: a thrilling document of the 79-year-old's creative process, juxtaposed with rare archival footage and intimate conversations with his critics and collaborators.

It's pointless to talk about painting." - Gerhard Richter (1965). Richter, considered one of the world's greatest living painters and now nearly 80 years old, agreed to talk about his work, as a small film crew documents his creative process. Blunt, provocative, unashamedly curmudgeonly and iconoclastic (but never cynical), the artist says he's "interested in things he doesn't understand," that "painting is a secretive business," and that "each painting is an assertion that tolerates no company." "You have to distrust your parents and see through them." Born
in 1932 in Dresden (which became East Germany), he left for the West nearly 30 years later. When his American gallerist Marian Goodman visits, they recall a 1984 show which began their relationship. Extensive contemporary scenes of the artist painting and interviews from the 1960s and '70s give a sense of his creative development - his colorful abstractions, photorealist portraits, and paintings
inspired by politics and history as well as more intimate statements. His final words as he applies and then scrapes off vast globs of paint: "Man, is this fun."