Obrist - O'Brist

Category Artist's Books
Author Richter, Gerhard / Obrist, Hans Ulrich
Publisher Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln
Year 2009
Details Softcover, 184 pages
ISBN 9783865606921
Language English

Gerhard Richter dedicated this artist's book to the art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist who he has worked with for many years.

The book comprises of three main elements: photographs showing Hans Ulrich Obrist, partly painted over, and text fragments of interviews that Obrist conducted with Richter. These elements are juxtaposed with photographs showing details of Richter’s paintings, depicting predominantly pastose colour application or structures of paint.

Randomness appears to have played a part in how the three elements are arranged, and the text fragments have been positioned with the help of a random generator. There are two front covers on either side of the book, which encourage the reader to start from either side. In keeping with the principle of randomness and shifts in structure, the pictures and texts in the catalogue do not follow a consistent direction.

Related publication

Title
Author
Date
Gerhard Richter. Bücher
Obrist, Hans Ulrich / Schwarz, Dieter / Richter, Gerhard / Elger, Dietmar
2013

Publisher

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden

Details

Softcover, 118 pages

ISBN

9783932264429

Category

Artist's Books

Notes

Series 'Schriften des Gerhard Richter Archiv Dresden ; vol. 11'

Gerhard Richter. Bücher is the first publication that exclusively addresses Gerhard Richter’s artist’s books. Starting with a brief introduction to the history of the genre, Dieter Schwarz proceeds to analyse Richter’s diverse publications, which don’t necessarily stand out with extravagant covers, but are versatile in dealing with different subjects and their presentation. The aspect of reproduction and the processing of graphical material, which plays a crucial role in Richter’s works in general, can also be found in most of his books. Schwarz adjudges Eis and Wald a special status, as they are not derived from image details like War Cut or Patterns, but consist of independent series of pictures.

 

In the interview with Richter, Hans Ulrich Obrist, who also collaborated with him on a number of books, discusses the artist’s books chronologically and raises detailed questions about the development and context of all of Richter’s publications. The interviewer talks to Richter about his ideals and guiding principles in painting. Obrist is mainly interested in the structure and arrangement of the books, which demonstrate a carefully conceived composition.

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