Though iconic German artist Gerhard Richter painted from photographs from the 1960s onward, his dry-brush painting technique abstracted images from family albums, books or magazines into intentional ambiguity. Focusing on landscapes, David Zwirner Gallery’s current show of Richter’s work from the ‘60s to the ‘00s displays both abstract and representational work side by side and, in some works, in the same painting. Here, Lichtung (Clearing) seems to proffer an idyllic glade in the near distance. In the immediate foreground, however, Richter imposes a permeable barrier between viewers and the scenic break in the forest by applying green-toned abstract passages of paint on the painting’s surface. Our inclination to mentally venture into the meadow beyond is arrested as the focus shifts to the surface of the canvas, changing the painting from a nature scene into an experience of light, color and tone. (On view in Chelsea through July 10th).
