Flow – P7

A seemingly infinite variation of vivid colours interacts and mixes in Gerhard Richter’s ‘Flow (P7)’ (2014),
a facsimile after his painting ‘Flow’ (2013). The original work is part of an eponymous series in which
Richter creatively experimented with the expressive potentials of chance and materiality. By pouring
and letting trickle variously coloured enamel paints on a surface, Richter achieved entirely abstract,
unrestrained figurations.

Once satisfied with the swirls and textures, Richter covered his painting with glass, arresting their
interaction in a precise moment in time and turning the tactile quality of the enamel paints into
unreachable, distant visions. In this painting, vast fields of green merge with yellow paint, creating
curved forms, reminiscent of sea foam or organic matter. Insisting on the abstract logic of this work,
however, Richter employed glass to emphasise the complex dynamic between the painting’s materiality
and the glass’ smoothness.

This duality is captured in ‘Flow (P7)’, a Diasc‐mounted chromogenic print on aluminium which
maintains the integrity of the painted textures and hardened surfaces. The facsimile is also an
impressive continuation of Richter’s perennial investigations into new forms of abstraction; it is an
independent artwork that cleverly abstracts through reversing the logic of his photo paintings.