.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Painted in 1998, The Web of Andi the First explodes with the energy of Pop culture, MTV and the information age. Abstract Expressionist forms jostle for dominance in a cornucopia of painterly energy. Like a contemporary sampler of abstract art, different styles are crammed together with Op Art-like forms visible in the background, underneath, the splatterings of Pollock and the broad brush strokes of Kline and Soulages are all referenced. The candy-coloured stripes and the patches of lush impasto make The Web of Andi the First a beguiling record of our age, its art and its pace.
The combination of these various styles results in The Web of Andi the First appearing faintly figurative, as it charts various styles and manners of brushwork. Its theme is painting itself. Richter himself has said that, "The most astonishing quality of abstract painting is indeed its capacity to formulate what is still unknown or new - although everything refers to the canon of forms that exist in the world. The more beautiful and surprising a painting is, the more staggering are the associations it sets free... I believe in the richness and beauty of the human intellect and in its ability to understand the unknown and strange... Beauty through confusion; truth through collision!" (Richter, quoted in G. Romano, 'Beauty Through Confusion', Flash Art, Summer 2000).
The combination of these various styles results in The Web of Andi the First appearing faintly figurative, as it charts various styles and manners of brushwork. Its theme is painting itself. Richter himself has said that, "The most astonishing quality of abstract painting is indeed its capacity to formulate what is still unknown or new - although everything refers to the canon of forms that exist in the world. The more beautiful and surprising a painting is, the more staggering are the associations it sets free... I believe in the richness and beauty of the human intellect and in its ability to understand the unknown and strange... Beauty through confusion; truth through collision!" (Richter, quoted in G. Romano, 'Beauty Through Confusion', Flash Art, Summer 2000).