Film Review: Gerhard Richter Painting

By Lorette C. Luzajic

The film was boring, moving at a snail’s pace, and devoid of the kind of crazy scandals of excess or intrigue that make art documentaries interesting. Legendary artist Gerhard Richter, while gracious and polite enough, was a reluctant subject for scrutiny. There were no salient revelations about the meaning of life. Even the most mundane and pedestrian personal details necessary to flesh out the basics of biography were missing in action. Still less was said about the history or importance of the artist’s vast and varied body of work.

But that said, there was something inexplicably compelling and charming about the documentary. I went in expecting to learn a great deal more about Richter and his ideas about art. This curiousity went unfulfilled, however, yet what happened in this understated gem was  more important and more rare- the audience became witness to process. There were no lofty discussions and dissections pitting art world elites over clamouring hopefuls. There were no hard-to-swallow claims about why a few accidental splotches were measures of genius or how muddy canvases demonstrated masterful strokes and composition. Instead, Richter freely confessed the joy of arbitrary application. He copped to the fact that “finished” was subjective, purely dependant on whether he liked the random results. Far from planning the placement of every drip and saturating it with supposed symbolism, he admitted the art works did what they wanted.

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