G.A.5 1984

Curator: This is Gerhard Richter’s “G.A.5,” a watercolor created in 1984. It's a captivating example of Richter's engagement with abstraction during this period. Editor: My first impression is, frankly, one of controlled chaos. It's like looking at an exploded diagram of joy – all these bright watercolors clashing and merging, tied together with this frenetic energy of dark lines. Curator: Indeed. It's interesting to consider this within the broader context of Richter's oeuvre. He was known for photo-paintings at this time, but series like “G.A.5” served as important sites for him to interrogate pure painting. What possibilities resided in material exploration away from the indexical claims of photographic reproduction? Editor: What I love is the sheer materiality. The watercolor almost fights against its own fluidity – you have these bold, defined areas of red against washes of green and yellow that create this dynamic tension. You could almost smell the wet paint, if that makes sense. The scratches hint to urgency. Curator: Absolutely. And those scribbled lines, those frantic, dark marks dissecting the composition, add another layer. Do they represent movement? Disruption? Perhaps an attempt to control the inherent formlessness of watercolor? These graphic interventions suggest a breakdown and then a reorganization. Editor: Or maybe they're Richter just letting loose, throwing some grit into the watercolor's usual calm. Like scratching an itch. Sometimes art can be that direct. Does anyone know? He sure isn’t telling. I’m making him out to be ornery, ha! Curator: That’s why Richter remains perpetually interesting, I suspect. While the abstract expressionist movement prioritized this sense of spontaneous gestural mark-making, what is often glossed over is the art world system in which those works were eventually marketed. So with "G.A.5" and similar abstract experiments by Richter, it may be just as insightful to examine them by asking: who exactly gets to "scratch an itch"? Editor: Hmm, something to contemplate. All these bright hues together have woken me right up. Curator: As they have me! It really makes one consider how much can be communicated by simply harnessing paint and line, divorced from clear referents. Editor: Thanks for sharing all that, it gives my own creative fire a boost.