portrait studies - a conversation with Gerhard Richter
2010 - ONGOING

2011, OLIVE COTTON AWARD, TWEED REGIONAL GALLERY, NSW
2013, BLAKE PRIZE, ONLINE EXHIBITION, DIRECTOR’S CUT

Richter’s photo-based paintings are often taken from his personal photographs and are bound up with his well-documented biography. His portraits purposely question traditional ideas of portraits as ‘likeness’ and his depictions themselves seem more individualised than the subjects themselves. They convey ambiguity, a tension between inviting and resisting interpretation, a new perspective on his idea that “reality cannot be seen or known but remains hidden under the veneer of appearance”. Responding to Richter’s ideas, and his fascination with “life’s perplexity” and coincidences, I create portraits that interchange my family with his, citing his individualised traits to talk to a universal humanity and the strange intersections that occur in life.

Imi after Ema, Duratran print, 68.6 x 87.8cm

Ema, Richter’s wife, is in her early pregnancy (with daughter Betty) but one cannot see this in his iconic painting/photograph, just as one cannot see that Imi, my mother, is in her early stages of dementia. The intimacy of Richter’s gaze as his wife advances directly to the viewer with eyes diverted, makes for an intensely private picture, the same tender portrayal I sought with my mother.

Uncle Richard after Uncle Rudi

Richter’s German history is referenced clearly in many of his works. His portrait Uncle Rudi is of a young man smiling proudly, though appearing self-conscious, as he poses in his new Nazi uniform. Rudi died fighting soon after the photograph, the basis for Richter’s painting, was taken. My Uncle Richard stands equally proud and equally awkward in his awareness of all that his 94 years as a survivor of The Holocaust entailed.

Rezi after Betty, 1988

Richter’s adolescent daughter Betty turns away from the camera encouraging the viewer to look into the monochrome background. Rezi is my mother-in-law, a survivor of Auschwitz where she spent her adolescent years. As Rezi assumes Betty’s posture the black background reflects back as if reporting the indecipherable, while the ‘pearl’ in the earring and the pattern of cloth reveal Rezi’s own presence.

Dani after Betty, 1977

Richter photographed his 10 year old daughter Betty, in an unusual horizontal position, her gaze fixed firmly on her father.
My daughter Dani, born in 1977, fixes her gaze onto me while her head tilts naturally on the headstone of her father’s grave.