Ifrit – P8

In Gerhard Richter’s entrancing ‘Ifrit’ (2010), the dynamic interactions and mixtures of poured bright
yellow, blue and red enamel paints have frozen under a sheet of clear glass, transforming an ephemeral
composition into a motionless, eternal piece. The various textures and colour interactions are
particularly striking; on the painting’s left, the paint works vertically, creating seemingly three‐
dimensional folds while on its right the paint distributes in ripples as red and yellow meet to create
bubbles and wrinkles.

Trapped behind glass, the colours, once spontaneously moving on the surface, are rendered inaccessible
and remote. Their textures are effectively flattened but their brilliance nonetheless remains
mesmerising. By unveiling the tension between the artist’s physical gesture and his random, chance‐
based methods, ‘Ifrit’ investigates the meanings of abstract painting, negotiating between the sense of
vision and that of touch.

These investigations are also present in ‘Ifrit (P8)’ (2014), a high‐quality Diasec‐mounted chromogenic
print on aluminium which mirrors the captivating effects of the original painting. In doing so, Richter
reversed the logic of his iconic photo paintings, blurring the boundaries between media and
experimenting with new methods of abstraction.