Some striking differences of opinion:
"I think that "Where do I stand? What do I want?" is the essential question for an artist. I want to answer this question myself first. But I want this also to be a challenge to any other artist, in order to know: "Where does he/she stand? What does he/she want?" Because, when confronted with an artwork, I always ask myself if the artist is answering this question, and it is essential that the response come through the artwork directly. This is what art can establish – a direct dialog, one to one."
Hirschhorn, Art Review Supplement, June 2008
"I steer clear of definitions. I don't know what I want. I am inconsistent, noncommittal, passive; I like the indefinite, the boundless; I like continual uncertainty. Other qualities may be conducive to achievement, publicity, success; but they are all outworn – as outworn as ideologies, opinions, concepts and names for things."
Gerhard Richter, 1966, quoted in Guardian 20/09/08
"I believe in Art, I believe in Art because it's Art. I have faith in Art and I believe in the power of Art. Faith in Art and passion are essential as an artist, there is no doubt. But Art does not change your life when you stay passive, Art changes your life when you have the courage to be active yourself. Active in thinking. Art has the ability to create its own space, its own reality, its own truth. Doing Art is not utopian, doing Art is not dreaming or escaping reality. Art creates the condition to confront the other, directly, without communication, mediation or explanation. I am not doing my artwork for an ideal world – but I want to do my artwork in this non-transparent, in this violent, in this complex, and in this chaotic world we are living in. I am part of it and I want this to be obvious in my work. There is no ideal world and there is no ideal artwork."
Hirschhorn, Art Review Supplement, June 2008
"I believe in nothing … I consider belief of every kind, from astrology to every elevated religion and all great ideologies, to be superfluous and mortally dangerous [ … ] We no longer need such things. We ought to work out different strategies against misery and injustice, war and catastrophes."
Gerhard Richter, 'Notes' 1964, quoted in Guardian 20/09/08
