 Les Paul Dictatorship, 2008 oil on canvas, 97.8 x 141 x 1.7 inches, 248.4 x 358.1 x 4.3 cm Daniel Richter Rock und Polizei Regen Projects is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by German artist Daniel Richter. Richter's more recent paintings are known for their fantastical subjects, vivid palate, and the distinct energy he infuses into each painting. Richter's narratives borrow from art history, popular culture, and mass media. The paintings are often large scale depictions of social protest, violence, LSD induced circus motifs, theatrical imagery, old school punk rockers and other worldly scenes of rape or crime with an almost Ensor-like aura. Extremes are often present and at odds in Richter's work. Playful, silly, deviant, and dark, Richter's paintings are loaded with contradiction and conflict engaging the viewer in an uneasy yet mesmerizing experience. "Richter's oeuvre displays a commitment to colour and composition that can be seen throughout the various phases of his career, and that constitutes a kind of personal grammar underlying the variety and originality of his imagery. The interlacing structures that characterize his paintings are evident in the earliest pictures. Even the thriving, overflowing abstractions reveal a linear weave, resembling the ribs of an organic body in one painting, creeping vines in another. This element brings order to the convulsive layering and clustering of colour, incorporating it into the overall organization of the picture." (Christoph Heinrich, "Watch out for the bird!", in Daniel Richter: Die Palette, 1995-2007, published by DuMont Lieteratur and Kunst Verlag, Köln, Germany, p.19) His large format canvases exist in a long tradition of painting that references Kippenberger, Goya, Polke, Munch, Beckman, Doig, Althoff, and Manet among others. His use and treatment of paint bring an element of unexpected tension to the work, engaging the viewer with his ever-present energy and emotion. The artist's hand is enormously present as the entire canvas has been treated and processed sometimes with the look of a chemical reaction like an acid burn. Richter abundantly layers the canvas with paint so that the viewer can transparently see the artist's process of sketching and painting. Daniel Richter was born in 1962 in Lüthenburg Germany and currently lives and works in Hamburg. A retrospective exhibition is currently traveling throughout Europe which began in May 2007 at the Kunsthalle in Hamburg, and continues to the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Den Haag, The Netherlands and the Centro de Arte Centrmporáeno de Málaga, Málaga, Spain. In 1998 he was the recipient of the prestigious Otto Dix award and in 2002 the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, Germany, awarded Richter the Preis der Nationalgalerie. Exhibition: January 26 - March 1, 2008 Gallery hours: Tues-Sat 10 am - 6 pm Regen Projects 9016 Santa Monica Boulevard USA-Los Angeles, CA 90069 Telephone +1 (310) 276-5424 Fax +1 (310) 276-7430 Email office@regenprojects.com www.regenprojects.com |
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