G.A.2 1984

Gerhard Richter made ‘G.A.2’ with paint, maybe watercolor or something like that. The colors are bright and alive – lemon yellow, leaf green, a touch of earthy red. I imagine Richter approaching this work with a kind of playful seriousness, letting the paint guide him. There's a real sense of improvisation, like he's thinking through the paint itself. The thin, watery washes create these translucent layers, and the black lines on top feel like a later decision, adding a touch of structure, or maybe resistance, to the flow. It reminds me of my own process – that back-and-forth between intention and accident, control and release. I bet Richter was thinking about all the painters who came before him while making this, and all the possibilities of where painting could go next. It’s like we’re all in this big conversation, riffing off each other across time. Painting embraces ambiguity, and there's no one right answer. It allows for multiple interpretations.