Images courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery

Clement Greenberg, the infamous art critic who made and unmade Jackson Pollock, once wrote in his essay on the avant-garde that the goal of abstract painting is to imitate the process of art itself and not any discernable reality. Thus, painting becomes about paint, color, texture and line. If such criteria are valid, then Gerhard Richter’s new exhibition at Marian Goodman gallery, first in New York since 2005, is a definite success.
     The show displays a comprehensive collection of Richter’s work from this decade. In the first room his biggest paintings provide a study in tone gradation. Through the glossy paint one can see the emotional intensity of the horizontal brush strokes, which makes the viewer feel the act of painting. The next room contains a new series of works titled Sindbad, painted in 2008. These are 30 cm x 50 cm paintings done in lacquer behind glass. Here, the prime colors collide in an almost phantasmagoric way, cutting and crashing into each other. The Grey series is a monochromatic study of texture; the oil paint is dabbed on the canvas, achieving a three-dimensional effect that is reminiscent of cracked desert surface. A standalone painting titled September is one of those rare abstract works whose visceral impact, achieved solely through its color and texture, so accurately reflects its name. Its colors convey the dreary mood of autumn, and its effect becomes even more solemn if you think of the events of 9/11.