In the studio with… Daniel Richter
In the 1990s, early in his career, the German painter Daniel Richter (b. 1962) worked as an assistant to Albert Oehlen, whose maximalist, expressionistic approach to abstract painting had a formative influence on the younger artist. Richter’s work has been through several stylistic shifts, from abstraction to figuration; in his recent work he has focused intently on depicting human figures, often in distorted ways. The artist has wide interests – in the ’90s he designed posters and record sleeves for bands, and he now runs a publishing house, PAMPAM, with his wife, the Austrian photographer Hanna Putz-Richter. His latest body of work – a group of striking, brightly coloured paintings that meditate on the limitations of the human form – is on display at Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, from 25 July–27 September.
Where is your studio?
My studio is in Berlin, in an area called Schöneberg – Christopher Isherwood lived just two houses away 100 years ago. It’s just a classic kind of craftman’s workshop. I think it was part of the old Metropol theatre.
How would you describe the atmosphere in your studio?
Work-related. There are lots of paintings, records and books, and that’s it. It’s actually not a very beautiful place. It’s also, sadly, not super big. I have to use the elevator to get paintings in and out, so I can’t paint anything larger than three metres across. It’s not like one of those lofts you might see in Architectural Digest.
