Cage

While the original ‘Cage Paintings’ are monumental fields of color enveloping the spectator, the small square print ‘Cage’ is intimate. Despite this difference, the two are profoundly linked, providing a visionary color experience. In the case of the print and painting ‘Cage 6’, there is a texture of aqua greens, citrus yellows, black, and Prussian blues.

Richter created the ‘Cage Paintings’ while listening to the experimental music of John Cage. His approach resonates with central tenets of Cage’s practice, particularly the pursuit to eliminate the ego in music. This resonates with Cage's deep interest in Buddhism and its non-dualistic philosophy, considering the boundaries of the ego as an impediment to the experience of a unified consciousness. Eliminating the artistic ego was already central to Richter’s aesthetic. In the ‘Cage Paintings,’ he denied the handmade quality of traditional painting by using a squeegee made from a Perspex bar and a handle. This allowed him to wipe paint across the canvas with a mechanical action, almost slick, eliminating layers before adding further strips of color.

Printmaking extends Richter’s practice, developing his aesthetic of non-involvement. Mechanically reproduced prints are further removed from the artist, and in the case of ‘Cage,’ the prints are based on photographs of the original painting. While this technique effaces individuality, Richter’s fields of shimmering color could be equated to the spiritual concept of an elevated state of balance.

In both its painted and printed form, ‘Cage’ is a series that incorporates dynamic bodily movement and an emotive contemplation of color. Richter's attempt to create works that exist autonomously, entirely removed from the artist’s ego, results in images of intense philosophical and sensorial weight.