Gerhard Richters "Atlas"
16th of September 2021
Here’s the book that caught my eye this morning, as I was picking up laundry from the floor, and my eyes grazed a low bookshelf. Today, this is my daily book meditation..
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“Atlas”, the monumental image collection made by Gerhard Richter. A massive, gigantic collection of sketches, news clippings and photographic images gathered since the 60’ies, which feels something like the explosive meeting between a sketchbook and a full-fletched body of work. He has said: "In the beginning I tried to accommodate everything there that was somewhere between art and garbage and that somehow seemed important to me and a pity to throw away."
What fascinates me the most (at the moment) with this body of work is the flexibility of it. On the one hand, how a small print is turned into a full-scale installation in a sketch, just by adding lines of perspective around it.
And also, the variety: family photos, landscapes, a candle, paint, clouds and architecture and much more. As such, it really does seem to be a personal atlas. I like artists who do not limit the scope of what motifs they can bring into their work. Anything can run into their practice and will be colored by what is already there, and also contribute to an expansive universe. That to me is one, beautiful type of artistic freedom. Richter seems to do it totally effortlessly – but maybe that’s just the lure of the printed, edited book?
https://photobookweek.org
16th of September 2021
Here’s the book that caught my eye this morning, as I was picking up laundry from the floor, and my eyes grazed a low bookshelf. Today, this is my daily book meditation..
“Atlas”, the monumental image collection made by Gerhard Richter. A massive, gigantic collection of sketches, news clippings and photographic images gathered since the 60’ies, which feels something like the explosive meeting between a sketchbook and a full-fletched body of work. He has said: "In the beginning I tried to accommodate everything there that was somewhere between art and garbage and that somehow seemed important to me and a pity to throw away."
What fascinates me the most (at the moment) with this body of work is the flexibility of it. On the one hand, how a small print is turned into a full-scale installation in a sketch, just by adding lines of perspective around it.
And also, the variety: family photos, landscapes, a candle, paint, clouds and architecture and much more. As such, it really does seem to be a personal atlas. I like artists who do not limit the scope of what motifs they can bring into their work. Anything can run into their practice and will be colored by what is already there, and also contribute to an expansive universe. That to me is one, beautiful type of artistic freedom. Richter seems to do it totally effortlessly – but maybe that’s just the lure of the printed, edited book?
https://photobookweek.org