THE CONCEPT FOR THE EXHIBITION

On my second visit a few weeks later, we finalized our initial ideas: We agreed on three suites of drawings. Two large-scale mirrors and one considerably smaller mirror in landscape format found both our approval. What we were missing was a solution for the display cases. Gerhard Richter’s unexpected question, whether I could imagine just having a sphere in one of the cases, I greeted with a ‘yes’.

Eventually we agreed on a somber serial installation, sublimated by three mirrors at the narrow front, back and middle walls. Near the entrance in the Vitrinengang one sphere was to be placed in one of the twelve otherwise empty display cases for graphic art. The surrounding monotonous space we imagined mirrored in its polished surface. The sphere would be both a provoking readymade and an ominous presence. Yet the sober presentation is misleading. With his exhibition 54 Zeichnungen ∙ 3 Graue Spiegel ∙ 1 Kugel Gerhard Richter has succeeded in a radical presentation of his latest drawings within the museum space.

MIRROR IN THE MIRROR (ARVO PÄRT)

In his Munich exhibition Richter, in confronting us with his mirrors, submits us to a similar cathartic situation. Like voids, the mirrors throw us back upon ourselves. In 1981 Richter made the following note for himself: “Polemically: degradation of all pictures; provocation of the viewer who sees himself instead of an image.” The question is no longer whether we see the drawings or not, but rather, whether we drown in our reflection, or manage to tear ourselves away from it. Those who succeed have all the time in the world to engage with the drawings in the exhibition.

With this project the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München, once again, explores the standing of drawing in the 21st century as a catalyst among the fine arts and as an existential mode of expression of human intellect and creativity.

Michael Hering