Gerhard Richter: Strip-Tower

<p><b>Preserved in a small-format paperback, Richter's <i>Strip-Tower</i> is an exercise in three-dimensional abstraction</b></p><p>Since the early 1960s, Gerhard Richter (born 1932) has tirelessly explored the infinite possibilities of painting and gained status as a celebrated artist worldwide. His recent public commission, <i>Strip-Tower (962)</i> (2023), expands on the artist's enduring investigations of painting, photography, digital reproduction and abstraction. Building on his series of <i>Abstract Paintings</i> from the 1970s onward, and <i>Strip Paintings</i> made since 2011, Richter now moves his explorations into three dimensions. He created <i>Strip-Tower</i> using glossy ceramic tiles that clad two perpendicular panels to create a cruciform structure of 12 faces, intended to be viewed in the round. Marcus du Sautoy, Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, describes the work as a piece of "complexity and simplicity," its vertical stripes hiding a deeper, symmetrical process. The book also features a preface by Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist and Chief Executive Bettina Korek.</p>