Flow (P15)

Unlike Bagdad (P9) and Bagdad (P10), Flow (P15) is a moody print that recalls paintings of the Christian religious tradition. The print is made after a painting executed by Richter with the use of diluted oil paints; allowed to ‘float’ on top of the surface medium, these oil paints of varying hues interact with one another wholly independent of the human hand. An alchemical work that contrasts with Richter’s squeegee-based paintings, such as Cage (P19-2) - and the fiercely procedural and guided process required to complete them - Flow P15) might be digested as Richter’s attempt to push the boundaries of ‘chance’ - a creative force that he has sought to harness throughout his lengthy and successful career.

Presented in the form of a diptych, the work is dominated by a fiery wave of orange tones that appear to be ‘struck’ by a lighter, more visceral section of white and yellow paint to the left of its composition. Not unlike Byzantine icons nor paintings hung at Christian altarpieces, the print communicates with art historical tradition, particularly religious paintings designed to represent the so-called ‘wrath of Gods’. Its innovative use of oil paints, as well as its composition, gesture to the work of Dutch painter Jan van Eyck, who pioneered oil painting during the 13th century. Recalling the depictions of bad weather found in later oil-based Dutch works, such as The Gloomy Day by Pieter Bruegel (1565), Flow (P15) appears to trace the likeness of a similarly violent force of natural origin.