Synopsis
One of the world’s greatest living painters, the German artist Gerhard Richter has spent over half a century experimenting with a tremendous range of techniques and ideas, addressing historical crises and mass media representation alongside explorations of chance procedures. Infamously media-shy, he agreed to appear on camera for the first time in 15 years for a 2007 short by filmmaker Corinna Belz called Gerhard Richter’s Window. Her follow-up, Gerhard Richter Painting, is exactly that: a thrilling document of Richter’s creative process, juxtaposed with intimate conversations (with his critics, his collaborators, and his American gallerist Marian Goodman) and rare archive material. From our fly-on-the-wall perspective, we watch the 79-year-old create a series of large-scale abstract canvasses, using fat brushes and a massive squeegee to apply (and then scrape off) layer after layer of brightly colored paint. This mesmerizing footage, of a highly charged process of creation and destruction, turns Belz’s portrait of an artist into a work of art itself.
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Movie Details
Brazil Releases: | May 27th, 2016 (Wide) |
Video Release: | September 25th, 2012 by Kino Video |
MPAA Rating: | Not Rated |
Running Time: | 97 minutes |
Keywords: | Artists, Biography, Cinema Verite |
Source: | Based on Real Life Events |
Genre: | Documentary |
Production Method: | Live Action |
Creative Type: | Factual |
Production/Financing Companies: | Zero One Film, Terz Film, WDR, MDR, Arte |
Production Countries: | Germany |
Languages: | English, German |