Toronto 1988

Gerhard Richter made this artwork, Toronto, by overpainting a photograph of the Canadian city. Look at the big, gloppy gestures of blue, yellow, and orange. The paint's pretty thick, right? I can almost feel Richter moving the pigment around with his brush. I imagine him thinking about how these gestures might disrupt, obscure, or maybe even reveal something new about the photo underneath. The sweeping motions of the brush are really physical and full of energy. It makes you think: what's he trying to do here? Is he messing with our idea of what a city is, or what a photograph should show? Richter's playing with the tension between what's real and what's, well, painted. It reminds us that artists keep remixing ideas and pushing each other to see things differently, and they show us that it's okay for art to be a little ambiguous.