German painter Gerhard Richter signs exclusive deal to David Zwirner Gallery
Since the early 1960s, German painter Gerhard Richter has been making waves with his abstract and photorealistic art. Now, the 90-year-old is one of the best-regarded and most expensive artists on the planet.
That makes his exclusivity deal with David Zwirner quite the contract to acquire. His first exhibition at their Manhattan headquarters will commence in March 2023. It is the first time in his career that Richter will be represented by a gallery.
“To be able to work with Gerhard Richter is an immense honour and a great privilege,” Zwirner announced in a statement. “I want to acknowledge the important work Marian Goodman and everyone at the Marian Goodman Gallery has done for and with Gerhard Richter over the past thirty-seven years, and I’m humbled to be given this opportunity.”
Richter had previously collaborated with David’s father Rudolf Zwirner. Thus, he commented: “I have known David since his childhood as I had already in the 1960s worked closely with his father, Rudolf Zwirner. I feel this represents a beautiful continuity across generations.”
David Zwirner will hope that Richter’s radical approach will wow punters in these fitting times for his angular spiritualism. As the artist once proclaimed: “I like the indefinite, the boundless; I like continual uncertainty. Other qualities may be more conducive to achievement, publicity, success; but they are all outworn – as outworn as ideologies, opinions, concepts and names for things.”
This a philosophy that Zwirner has been eternally attracted to. As he concluded: “By avoiding adherence to any single ideology or dogma, Richter has been able to both celebrate and subvert the very act of painting. In the process, he has single-handedly opened up the medium to entirely new possibilities and investigations.”
