GERHARD RICHTER: PANORAMA at the TATE Modern

A week to remember! After finally completing the second of my new figurative paintings, I was ready for a inspirational week in London, and indeed it was. London was wrapped in the haze of pure creativity, and my mind was soon to be overrun and to the point beyond productive exhaustion with unique visual and ideas aplenty after seeing Gerhard Richter and the Frieze Fair. 

Richter although having had retrospectives before, none had ever been so comprehensive, nor as illuminating as Panorama. I was not pushed for time and after walking around in amazement at the seemingly endless wonders of visionary marvel that lay before my eyes, I proceeded to walk around the 14 exceptionally curated rooms once again in awe and in disbelief at the sights I had just encountered.  To me this was the greatest painting exhibition I had ever seen, and I was acutely aware of this whilst I was experiencing the exhibition. This was an exhibition and experience I recommend you take on your own, and certainly take your time over. 

The exhibition is a fundamental manifesto of what painting is capable of and why painting is certainly not dead and shows what a single artist is capable of. Gerhard Richter is arguably the most accomplished painter and indeed Artist of his generation and so I would implore you to see this Exhibition as I believe it may never be surpassed in its complexity nor execution and will be remembered in Art History as a landmark exhibition.

The exhibition was organized to coincide with Richter’s 80th Birthday and was launched at the height of London’s busiest Art season. As the titled suggests this is a broad view of Richter’s back catalogue inclusive of all his many distinctive signature styles. This exhibition, explained Nicholas Serota, aims not to present an artist of any specific style, but to recognise an artist who “chooses to express ideas at different moments.”

Tate’s cavernous rooms lend themselves to the large format that much of Richter’s Abstract works are based, juxtaposed along side small scale figurative works such as Skull (1983) and Flowers (1977). Richter’s large scale abstract work tower above you and trigger an immediate response with their immense and seductive walls of colour, that lure you in as you succuumb to their complexity and clarity seem smeared into undistinguishable moments. Though subtle moments in the exhibition draw you back to reality, some to an uncomfortable one, such as September where reality and abstraction seem to be as one; I almost walk past the work labeling it as abstract, then my eye wanders to the title and read the solitary word September, in which the depiction of the two towers can just be made out behind the shades that lay over their surface.

To conclude Richter is at the very peak of his powers and has produced in my opinion some of his greatest masterpieces in the last decade and has excelled where so many great names have floundered in their later years. Gerhard Richter: Panorama is a wonder to behold and is a must see.

Gerhard Richter: Panorama at Tate Modern, SE1 (020 7887 8888, tate.org.uk) runs until January 8, 2012. Open Sun-Thurs, 10am-6pm; Fri-Sat, 10am-10pm. 

Frieze Article coming soon......