Untitled 1988

This untitled painting was made by Gerhard Richter; I can’t tell you exactly when, but you can see in the application of paint a really dedicated, physical process. The way the green paint has been applied, thick and almost moss-like, it's like Richter is coaxing the paint to perform, pushing it around to see what it can do. Looking closely, you can see these little ridges, peaks of green that catch the light. It's almost topographical, like a map of some strange, verdant planet. The color, this acid green, is so vivid, so unnatural, it creates this tension. It's like nature seen through a screen, or a memory of a landscape distorted by time. There’s something performative about it, too, like he's staging a painting, not just making one. This work reminds me of the raw, experimental energy of some of Joan Mitchell's paintings. Both artists share a willingness to let the paint lead, to embrace chance and accident. These paintings are not about answers, but about possibilities, about the endless conversation that art has with itself.