Townscape D 1968

Gerhard Richter made this painting called Townscape D, sometime during his lifetime, using paint. Look at the way Richter builds up the image through these layered blocks of greyscale colour. It's almost like he’s building a city out of brushstrokes, letting the process guide the form. You can really see the materiality of the paint here. It’s not trying to trick you into thinking it's anything other than what it is: oil on canvas. The surface has a definite texture, built up from the application of thick paint with either a brush or a palette knife. See how the light catches on these ridges and valleys? It's not smooth or polished. The way he’s worked, it feels like he's actively pushing against the idea of perfect representation. Like he's saying, "Here's a town, but it's also just paint." Richter’s work often plays with abstraction and representation. Think of him alongside someone like De Kooning, who also blurred those boundaries, but with a very different feel. With the creation of this painting, Richter reminds us that art is always a conversation, an ongoing exploration rather than a fixed statement.