© Gerhard-Richter Film Still, Detail - Working on Abstract Painting, Catalogue Raisonné: 910-2’

In Corinna Belz’s new film, the reclusive painter, Gerhard Richter declares his art “a secretive affair.” As such, this new documentary is a rare peek into the inspirations behind the creative process of this 80 year old artist. The artist’s actual method for creating his blurred photo-realistic visions had remained a puzzle for many of his fans. The film reveals Richter painting with a long lath, wiping the paint over the canvas repeatedly in a slow, glacial process, like a plasterer smoothing down a wall making delicious squelching sounds.

Gerhard-Richter -1983 - Skull with Candle

For more conceptual and historical explanations, the tight-lipped painter is less forthcoming, and the film is more a meditative journey into the artist’s mind, watching a painting morph over time, crystallizing gradually, until with his final strokes, Richter declares the painting finished – a moment which may seem mysteriously arbitrary to the viewer, is that critical point for Richter when he considers there’s nothing more ‘wrong’ with the painting.

From Film Gerhard Richter Painting, © Gerhard-Richter

Rosen, by Gerhard Richter 1994 © Gerhard Richter

© Gerhard Richter Seascape 'Sea-Sea' - Seestücky 'See-See' 1970 oil on canvas

© Gerhard Richter, Seestück (bewölkt)/Sea-Piece (clouded), 1969, (oil on canvas)

Belz filmed the secretive artist at his studios in Cologne in Germany over several months to create a fully immersive studio experience, though the artist seems to rarely forget he is being filmed. Richter says in the film that his constant reworking of the paint with squeegees and fat bristles is an attempt to remove the flaws… In the Damian Pettigrew-directed French documentary of the famously slow painter Balthus, Through the Looking Glass, the French artist takes several years to satisfyingly conclude a painting – so long, that his exasperated wife Setsuko was often forced to remove the paintings from his studio. With Richter, he will sometimes even destroy and begin again, rather than be niggled by imperfection.

© Gerhard-Richter Film Still, Detail - Working on Abstract Painting, Catalogue Raisonné: 910-1’

Anish Kapoor, "Widow" (courtesy of Anish Kapoor Studio)

Rome is the home of classical art and architecture such as the Coliseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel, but its art scene is changing as the city attempts to modernize itself. Several years ago, Richard Meier updated the Roman architectural landscape with the Ara Pacis Museum. The structure was built over an existing building that houses the Ara Pacis Augustae, a sacrificial altar dating to 9 B.C.

Rome’s latest venture, the Maxxi, or the National Museum of the XXI Century Arts, is the city’s first national museum of contemporary art. No relics lie in Maxxi, where Zaha Hadid’s flowing lights and staircases wind through the space ensconced in concrete. The debut collection includes work from artists such as Gilbert and George, William Kentridge, and Gerhard Richter. Not to be missed is Anish Kapoor’s 2004 sculpture “Widow,” a 15 meter long black tube consisting of PVC coasted polyester fabric that flares out like a horn.

Anish Kapoor, "The Farm" (photo by David Hartley, courtesy of Gibbs estate)

The long, flared tube shape in “Widow” recurs in Kapoor’s “The Farm” at Kaipara Bay, New Zealand, shown in the current issue of SPREAD|Artculture magazine. Kapoor describes his tubular sculptures as “colostomy bags.” Unlike “The Widow,” a sculpture in black, “The Farm” is a vibrant, unmissable red. Says Kapoor, “It’s the color of the interior of our bodies. In a way, it’s inside-out, red.”

Kapoor is currently working on ArcelorMittal Orbit, a 380 feet tower for the 2012 Olympics in London. The planned tower would dominate the London skyline, rising higher than the Statue of Liberty. To learn more about Anish Kapoor and take a look into his studio, flip to page 52 of SPREAD|Artculture magazine.