Open Studio

Talk is cheap, especially in the art world. Gerhard Richter’s always been a man of few words, but Gerhard Richter Painting, a new film by Corinna Belz, finds the German master in a relatively expansive mood.


It’s a quiet film, as documentaries go, less talking-head than fly-on-the-wall. But the patient approach pays off — watching Richter work (and deliberate) on his meticulously layered and scraped abstract works, we learn things no artist’s statement can convey. Gerhard Richter Painting premiered at Toronto just in time for the artist’s 80th birthday, and if you’re lucky enough to be in London you can catch a screening at Tate Modern, whose Richter retrospective is open through January 8th.