Townscape 1968

Gerhard Richter made this ‘Townscape’ painting with oil on canvas, though we don’t know exactly when. The grayscale is really interesting here because it allows us to focus on the structure, and the physicality of the paint. Richter is all about the surface, how the paint sits there, right? I mean, look at the horizontal strokes – they’re not trying to trick you into thinking they’re anything other than paint, dragged across the canvas. There is a wonderful tension in his paintings, it's like the painting is there but at the same time also kind of fading away. It reminds me a little of some of Guston’s later, more abstract work, where the image feels like it’s dissolving even as it’s being formed. It's always a conversation across time, isn't it? The push and pull, the ambiguity, that's where the real juice is.