“I believe that the quintessential task of every painter in any time has been to concentrate on the essential […]I had to wipe out details.” Storr(2002)p293
So said Gerhard Richter.
Luc Tuymans was of the same mind when he stated;
“It’s very much the intention that questions will arise as to what’s missing[…] The reductive element in this method refocuses your attention on how you portray history or a visual story.” Dexter&Heynen(2004)p16
This is a painting I have been working on recently. As can be seen there are areas which have been worked on relatively intensely and other areas that have not been worked on at all. I don’t know if I can say that this work is finished. One part of me says that all I wanted to convey has been conveyed and therefore no more work is necessary i.e. it is finished. Another part of me thinks it’s a bit too vague, too incomplete. I can’t see that painting in the details of what’s reflected in the windows of the houses or the colour of their doors will add anything to the, possible, narratives of the image but at the same time I’m not sure it stands up as it is.
My intention when starting this work was to leave areas untouched, to concentrate solely on what’s necessary. I thought there was an element of originality in doing so. Somehow it had not quite clicked in my mind that this is exactly what a large proportion of contemporary realist painters are doing including both Luc Tuymans and Gerhard Richter. It may be that one of the delineating features of Postmodernist painting is the moving away from filling the picture plain with meaningless detail. It certainly fits well with my concept of Snapshot Painting. I’m beginning to wonder, though, if this concept is not just a belated cottoning on to what’s been going on around me for a very long time.
Emma Dexter and Julian Heynen (ed) (2004). Luc Tuymans. London: Tate publishing. p1 et-al.
Robert Storr (2002). Gerhard Richter, Forty Years of Painting.. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. p286-309.
