Gerhard Richter
Overpainted Photographs
The process of adding the element of paint over a photograph helps give a more abstract feel. Typically its used to add un realistic dimension and censor you cant achieve with a raw camera lens. This deconstructs the element of realism in the photo letting imagination blossom throughout.
In Gerhard Richter's work, he almost uses the paint as a way to direct the viewers eyes and blocking elements he wishes to be kept a mystery. This is evident in the picture on the bottom right, displaying a portrait (who i believe to be a relative/family member of Richters) covered almost entirely in a variety in grey paint with a hue of red in between. This helps Richter to give privacy to subjects yet also bringing a sense of self and personality to the flat image. The rippled waves against the glossy paper juxtapose each other, changing appearance depending on the light.
Richter mainly uses a squeegee to apply paint, and with the extra, mixed clumps of paint ("beautiful spots"), he uses to add onto photographs using these 'leftovers'. He applies them by squashing, scraping, dabbing or smudging allowing the paint and the photograph to compete for the viewers gaze despite the paint being the main element in these images; sometimes almost covering the entirety of the image, allowing the viewer to have a limited view of the image due to the wall of opaque, thick paint.
I wish to experiment with this technique as for my topic i am shooting in the time and space i will go out alone to destress and just relax. This feeling is shared in the form of painting. Painting mindlessly is one of my favorite ways to destress and to combine both elements together i believe could work really well for my endpoint.
https://gerhard-richter.com/en/art/overpainted-photographs/forest-85 https://www.artsy.net/artist/gerhard-richter
https://www.artsy.net/article/editorial-artists-use-the-photograph-as-canvas-in
https://www.sieshoeke.com/exhibitions/gerhard-richter-overpainted-photographs-2-2
