Daniel Richter

Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin
Timothy Taylor Gallery, London

Hamburg, Kunsthalle; The Hague, GEM - Museum voor actuale Kunst Gemeentenmuseum Den Haag; Malaga, CAC Malaga Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Daniel Richter, Die Palette 1995-2007, 2007, p. 63, illustrated in colour

Colours: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is brighter and more vibrant in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. The canvas is slightly slack and there are a few very fine impasto peaks missing in places. There are several spots of paint loss to the centre of the composition in the areas of impasto; these areas are largely unstable and display deep cracks. There is a rub mark at the centre of the right hand edge. There is a staple above the centre of the left edge. There is an artist's footprint towards the lower right hand corner. There is no retouching apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
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"Ultimately there's no difference between abstract and figurative painting - apart from the decodability of certain forms. The problem of how to organize colours on a surface never really change. The same method is there either way, slipping in through the various forms." (the artist in conversation with Jens Ronnau, in: Kunstforum no. 168, Jan-Feb 2004, pp. 263-275)

The present work was one of Daniel Richter's first paintings to combine these two conventionally opposing modes of painting. (Don't call it a) Comeback revels in the intoxicating diversity of form and colour. It presents an arena in which planned ornament and chance gesture sit side by side, with areas of meticulous detail and finish seemingly locked in by smears, dribbles and stains. Like his early abstract paintings, it is underpinned by a commitment to exploring the effects of colour and composition through a dense layering and clustering of forms that together form an organic, harmonious body.