Juxtapoz Magazine - Gerhard Richter's Blockbuster @ David Zwirner, Paris Kicks off Basel Week

"Characterized by an impressive variation in scope, scale, and technique, the works on view in Paris collectively highlight Richter's expansive understanding of the painted medium and his endlessly investigative approach to the process of artmaking itself. The exhibition opens with the artist's 3 Scheiben ( 3 Panes of Glass), from 2023. Richter first began working with the medium of glass over half a century ago, with his landmark 1967 installation 4 Glasscheiben ( 4 Panes of Glass),"

"The present installation belongs to a later body of work comprising groups of freestanding transparent glass panes. When viewed head-on, the image visible through the glass becomes increasingly distorted, dimmed, and opaque as it passes through each successive panel, forming a potent corollary to the blurred effect of Richter's photo paintings, which the artist began experimenting with in the 1960s."

"As with all of Richter's glass works, these pieces acknowledge and defy the expected artistic role of glass as a protective shield devoid of its own material presence, while also freeing it from its traditional modernist constraints as a setting within walls, vitrines, or cubes. The experience of beholding these works-along with the images seen on their surfaces-enacts a radical paradox in which reality is both"

Gerhard Richter presents paintings, drawings, and glass installations at David Zwirner Paris, his third show with the gallery following 2023 New York and 2024 London presentations. The exhibition coincides with a major retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. The works display wide variation in scope, scale, and technique and emphasize Richter's expansive approach to the painted medium and investigative artmaking. The presentation opens with 3 Scheiben (3 Panes of Glass, 2023) and connects to his 1967 4 Glasscheiben. Freestanding transparent panes progressively distort and dim imagery, echoing Richter's blurred photo paintings. Wall-mounted glass works challenge glass's protective role and modernist constraints, creating a paradox in which reality is simultaneously revealed and obscured.

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