Daniel Richter. Hello, I love you

From October 9, 2015, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is exhibiting a new series by the German painter Daniel Richter in a focused solo presentation. Around 30 paintings, which will be presented to the public for the first time in the Schirn, mark a caesura in the artist’s oeuvre. Daniel Richter (* 1962) is one of the influential artists of his generation; since the late 1990s his works have been celebrated in numerous exhibitions. In his new works Richter breaks with all that seemed familiar in his painting hitherto. In the past two years he has focused on a question which represents a challenge for him: “How can a picture be reduced formally while being charged at the same time as regards content?” In his search for answers and solutions Richter has developed a new pictorial language which defies the customary motifs and painting methods as well as the familiar colours and themes. His works are characterised by a remarkable stylistic complexity and versatility: From about the year 2000 he confronted the abstract-ornamental paintings created from the mid-1990s with large-format, more strongly figurative and narrative pictures of a socio-political reality. Through the intersection of art-historical, mass-media and pop-culture clichés he has created idiosyncratic worlds. In 2015 he reduced the pictorial means, simplified the painting method; the tried and tested pictorial themes have disappeared and the picture has been brought back to its abstract primal state.

Max Hollein, Director of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, on the artist’s most recent works: “In his new series Daniel Richter has taken a big step against the power of habit. He rejects basically everything which he has previous produced with so little effort: the motifs, the painting style, the colours, the subjects. The search for a new pictorial language has compelled him to a forced break with what was familiar. From the conscious torture of restricted possibilities Richter has developed a new focus for his creative energy. The result is remarkably impressive. It is time to show these fascinating new works by Daniel Richter to the public.”

Richter’s painting against his own routine has resulted in fascinating works which not only reveal a transformation, but also a remarkable new development stage in the artist’s oeuvre. The new series included two groups of works. In one of them Richter focuses on the observation of the body and corporeality. The figures are flat and intertwined; the forms crash mercilessly into each other and hint at the uncontrolled human sexuality, which becomes visually reinforced in pornography. Richter developed his latest works by starting out with the line and paint. In his new works the line is not only a purely formal means of reduction, but also the starting point for pictorial design. At the same time it symbolises Richter’s ideas of pictorial systems and schemes which help humans to comprehend and to represent pictorially the phenomena of reality. The latter becomes especially clear in the other group of works. Based on diagrams with which data, content or information are visualised, Richter paints amoeba-like areas on a subsequently designed monochrome background. Unlike his older works he shades all the colours he uses with white. With the exception of the background of the picture he uses only oil pastels for these new works. This leads to a fundamentally transformed appearance. Richter also avoids a clear symbolism and leaves no room for anecdotal interpretations. And yet his pictures reflect his powerful attitude to art and the world.

Director: Max Hollein
Curator: Katharina Dohm
Press contact: Pamela Rohde (Head of Press/Public Relations):
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