Gerhard Richter

GERHARD RICHTER
January - March 1, 2008 
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 26 2008, 6 - 8 p.m.

Marian Goodman Gallery is delighted to announce an exhibition by Gerhard Richter Abstract Paintings which will open to the public on Saturday, January 26th, and will be on view through March 1st 2008.

The exhibition will be the most recent presentation of the artist's work in Paris since his last exhibition at the gallery here in 1996/1997 and will follow Gerhard Richter's previous exhibition Paintings 2001-2005 at Marian Goodman in New York in 2005/2006.

On view will be a body of new work made by the artist in 2006 and 2007 of abstract paintings varying in format and process, presenting a range of approaches towards the painting's surface. Whilst the traces of colors dominate in some of the larger formats, such as HAGGADA (895-10), 2006, the white and grey works reveal perceptible layers of paint, sometimes incised, which show an affinity to drawing.

The work NETZ (Net) (895-9), 2006 introduces a fluid, grid-like structure of fine traces which can be found abstracted in a series of smaller format of paintings entitled WEISS (White), 2006. The delicate, fleeting lines which run through them render the white surface even more subtle. Some of the works, such as DICKICHT (Thicket)(903-4 and 903-5), 2007 and GESTEIN (Stone)(903-3), 2007 make discreet allusions to nature.

A fully illustrated catalogue, Gerhard Richter: Abstract Paintings will be published on the occasion of the exhibition, including an essay by Benjamin H.D. Buchloh and full-color reproductions of the exhibition.

Gerhard Richter was born in Dresden in the former German Democratic Republic in 1932, where he lived until 1961, studying first at the Kunstakademie, Dresden from 1951-1956, and then, after leaving for the West (in 1961), at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf, from 1961-1963. He has been the recipient of numerous distinguished awards, including the Wexner Prize in 1998; the Praemium Imperiale Award, Japan, 1997; the Golden Lion of the 47th Biennale, Venice, 1997; the Wolf Prize in Israel in 1994/5; the Kaiserring Prize der Stadt Goslar, Mönchehaus-Museum für Moderne Kunst, Goslar, Germany, 1988; the Oskar Kokoschka Prize, Vienna, 1985; the Arnold Bode Prize, Kassel, 1981; and the Junger Western Art Prize, Germany, 1967.

Over the past five years one-man exhibitions of the artist's work have included, most recently, Zufall ("Chance")- The Cologne Cathedral Window (in the cathedral's south transept window) and 4900 Colours, at the Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2007), "Gerhard Richter - paintings from the Böckmann collection", Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen/Germany; "Gerhard Richter - Portraits", Museumsberg Flensburg, Flensburg/Germany; "Gerhard Richter", National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea (2006)."Gerhard Richter", Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Japan (2005-2006) In 2005: Gerhard Richter – ohne Farbe, Museum Franz Gertsch, Burgdorf, Germany; A Private View (Böckmann Collection), Frissiras Museum, Athens ; Painting as Mirror, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan and Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Sakura-City, Japan; " 18.Oktober 1977", exhibited for the first time in Richter's home town of Dresden, Germany at the Galerie Neue Meister, Albertinium. Gerhard Richter , a retrospective through this past spring at the Kunstsammlung NordrheinWestfalen (K20), Düsseldorf, Germany, which traveled in the summer to the Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich. Gerhard Richter: Image After Image , shown at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark. In 2004: 3 Richter Rooms , Staatliche Kunstsammlungen/Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden, Germany; Printed!, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland, Kunsthalle Emden, Germany, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany, and Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria; A Private Collection , Museu do Chiado, Museum nacional de Arte contemporanea, Lisbon, Portugal and Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain. In 2002-2003: Atlas and Paintings , Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; 40 Years of Painting, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.; Eight Gray , Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin.

The retrospective Gerhard Richter: 40 Years of Painting, held at The Museum of Modern Art in 2002, traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art, and The Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. Earlier retrospectives of the artist's work have been shown at ARC/Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1993), which travelled to Moderna Museet, Stockholm and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (1994); and The Tate Gallery, London, which hosted a retrospective exhibition in 1991-92. Important group exhibitions have been numerous and include the re-installation of the permanent collection at Dia: Beacon, Beacon, NY; Documenta 12, 10, 9, 8, & 7, Kassel; and the 52nd, 47th, 40 th , & 36th Venice Biennale(s), Venice.

Among the current exhibitions, a solo exhibition of Gerhard Richter is being held at the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, from 19 January – 27 April 2008. This exhibition will be traveling to the National Gallery Complex, Edinburgh, 1 November 2008 – 4 January 2009, to Albertina, Vienna, 24 January – 3 May 2009, and finally to MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, 16 May – 16 August 2009.