Research: Richter Interview : I Have Nothing To Say and I'm Saying It.

Source: Nicholas Serota and Mark Godfrey, Gerhard Richter: Panorama (London Tate Publishing, 2011).

Key Points & Reflections:

• "NS: Are you always thinking about how to make a timeless object? GR: It's not that I'm always thinking about how to make something timeless, it's more of a desire to maintain a certain artistic quality that moves us, that goes beyond what we are, and that is, in that sense, timeless." p15. 
• This quote gives insight into Richter's thinking and connects with his process of making. This desire to maintain an artistic quality that 'moves us' and the words 'beyond what we are' indicate art being this connection with a higher power - something I touched on last term in my critical report, and ultimately argued how this process connection enables artwork to gain a higher spiritual value. 
• Gerard Richter talks about how art 'speaks to us', for example he describes art not as a skill or a craft, but 'quality' that is just there with art, and all art endures this quality - p.15. 

• "NS: So, is painting a balance between finding the right form, always fighting against the possibility of failure? GR: It's an attempt to find a form for inability and distress, to visualise them. If I'm lucky its true and clear, good and constructive, so that the form has nothing to do with irony and cynicism. The latter has no place in art anyway." p.15. 
• Richter on how his abstract paintings are made: "In the case of the abstractions, I get vague notions of pictures that are just asking to be painted. That's how it starts, but nearly always the result is not at all what I imagined." p.16. 
• This reminds me of the process of my own welding technique, that I feel the same way about. It's an abstract painting in this same way, and I know how I want it to look, but I don't really know how it will turn out, and that's the beauty of the process led, material led works. 

• "NS: So, are you saying that even pictures that appear to be of nothing are of something because everything is rooted in the world, everything relates in some way to the world and experience and everyone is looking for something, searching for - ? GR: Yes, automatically, for something recognisable - you have to be able to deal with that." p.19. 

Richter, Elbe, 1957

• Gerard Richter goes onto state how his first abstractions were made in a print making seminar, where he explains he 'played' with the ink roller and black ink, and he felt they looked good: "I started trying things out with the roller, and they all looked good. So that's what I did instead. And then I thought, but it can't be that simple. That's nothing to do with art, that's just playing." p.19. 
• The process of my own artwork is very similar to this that Richter describes, and I did not know that Richter used an ink roller before I tried my own experimentation. 
• The series of paintings that Richter is talking about here is called Elbe, and is displayed in the image above. 

• "NS: So why did you want to make abstract paintings?... GR: Perhaps because I'm a bit uncertain, a bit volatile. And I'd always been fascinated by abstraction. It's so mysterious, like an unknown land." p.20. 

• "A painting should never be interesting... Interesting paintings are no good." : p.22

Richter talks about art and meaning, or reasons behind art:

• When asked what art gave him, Richter states: "certainly something you can hold on to... it has the measure of all the infathomable, senseless things, the incessant ruthlessness of our world." Richter states that Art gives structure to the world... "comfort, hope" ... "Art shows us how to see things that are constructive and good, and to be an active part of that."p.24

Richter talking about his methods of making art, with a squeegee, and control of his art, and chance:

• Nicholas Serota implies that "With a brush you have control... With the squeegee you lose control". Richter states "Not all control, but some control." 
• "NS: So do you like the possibility of having control, but also some things not under control?" GR: Yes, that's our job. Chance is given, unpredictable, chaotic, the basis. And we try to control that by intervening, giving form to chance, putting it to use."p.27. 
• "I have nothing to say and I'm saying it" was quoted by Cage - musician, who Richter admires the way he handles chance. p.27
• "The way he [Cage] handles chance, whether in his I Ching pieces, or other everyday noises. Even if it does at first sound like a provocative nonsense, random tinklings and squeaks. But then you come to understand better and better how wonderfully clever and sensitive it is, how carefully constructed." p.27
• This connection with chance is very interesting as it is definitely how I am approaching my own work now, from my canvas paintings to my welding work on metal, there is a lack of control and a lot of chance involved. 

Reflection

• Overall, this interview has reminded me that Gerhard Richter is an artist that shares many themes and concerns about art, with me. From methods of process like loss of control, chance, to thoughts on art and abstraction, these are all points I can agree on.