Das Missverständnis, 2003 Oil on canvas, 230.4 x 270 cm Collection of Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Athens, Greece Daniel Richter Pink Flag - White Horse Daniel Richter's iconic paintings represent a significant contribution to renewed discussion of painting's importance in 21st century artmaking. This exhibition presents nine boldly painted, unsettling and beautiful readings of the current psychic pulse of the new world disorder. They speak of urban alienation, global conflict and a longing for the re-enchantment of nature. The Berlin/Hamburg artist's visual "voice" is unique because it brings revisionist politics, history painting as realistic painting, and the impact of popular culture in the media (i.e., the incitement of fear, pervasive acts of violence, global threats) into sharp focus amidst zones of deliberate obfuscation. This exhibition sets out to introduce a broader North American audience to the many critical dimensions in Richter's work as they relate to contemporary German culture. Richter (b. 1962) has achieved growing critical attention especially in Europe for his abstract paintings of the last decade, but since 1999 he has received heightened acclaim with the emergence of his large-scale distorted figurative works. This timely stylistic shift to figurative or "realistic" paintings also affords insights into his working process. Richter uses reference material to inform the interested viewer of his approach to materials, subject matter, and to generally demystify the process behind his paintings. Ephemera in the form of found pictorial materials such as reproductions of artworks, book covers, film stills, newspaper clippings, comic images, record album covers are iconic in their own right as mass circulation references in the public eye. Some are read as regional or national symbols specific to Germany; others are understood by a broader, global audience. This touring exhibition of eight important recent paintings includes a selection of ephemera, a fully illustrated colour catalogue, and a zine composed of reference material selected by Richter, an interview with the artist by Scott Watson and an essay by Robert Linsley. The exhibition "Daniel Richter: Pink Flag - White Horse", co-curated and organized by Wayne Baerwaldt, Director of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, Kitty Scott, Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and Scott Watson, Director/Curator of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, is made possible by the support of The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, the Goethe Institut, Toronto and the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart. Exhibition: October 8 - November 28, 2004 Opening hours: Tue-Fri 10 am - 5 pm, Sat /Sun 12 - 5 pm Closed Mondays and Statutory Holidays Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery University of British Columbia 1825 Main Mall CAN-Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z2 Telephone +1 (604) 822-2759 Fax +1 (604) 822-6689 Email belkin@interchange.ubc.ca www.belkin-gallery.ubc.ca |
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