Painted Pixels: Richter's 4900 Colours

The Surpentine Gallery is currently exhibiting Gerhard Richter's 4900 Colours: Version II, a large scale project that consists of 196 square panels of 25 colours each that can be combined into a large 4900 colour panel or separately into any desired configuration. The project was kind of a continuation of his stained glass window design for the Cologne Cathedral to replace the window previously destroyed in WWII. The window only consisted of 72 colours that were chosen based on the colour scheme of the original medieval glazes, and then organized randomly using a computer programme in order to create an even distribution of tone.

For this exhibition, the panels were installed two by two equally spaced along the walls, and despite every painting being unique from the next, their randomness gave each panel a sense of sameness, making it not really worth while to examine each and every one individually. Rather, these paintings worked well from a distance, enveloping you with their pixel-like monotony. In the context of Cathedral Window, the shiny vibrant quality of the enamel bring about what could, I suppose, be deemed a sense of the "technological sublime"* - the colours become a kind of "white noise" (more so with the window - as we've all learned in our art history or colour theory lessons, coloured light points optically blends to become whiter/brighter light - coloured pigment, however, becomes grey/dull) that is very hypnotizing.

What I really appreciated about 4900 Colours, though, was not only how Richter openly relied on computer generation to arrive at his compositions, nor just how their physical treatment gave the coloured squares a stong pixel-like quality, but also how in making them reconfigurable the entire project becomes a big game of cut and paste. Richter has, in my opinion, successfully translated bitmaps and digital image editing into the painted medium. Would it be wrong to include this as another format of net/computer art?

*We've grown accustomed to technology, however, religion still remains suspicious of science and technology with respect to faith, the Bible, etc., so I'd say the "technological sublime" is still apt in this case.

Image sources: 4900 Colours via Serpentine Gallery, Cathedral Window via Wired.