compared to the previous work) paintings on the wall.  However where the common subject matter is portraits it might be more accurately described as a ‘sense’ of portraiture.  In many the paint qualities reflect Richter’s earlier interests.  It is often applied very thickly, sometimes employed as a sculptural element to define facial features as in A Piece for Paxil.  Notice how the nose, hairline, an eye, the jaw and an ear are all defined strictly through the texture of the paint.  These paintings also preserve a quality of ‘objectness’, a nod to the artist’s sculptural interests with the irregular edges contributing to their dimensionality.

Something that was beginning to emerge in Richter’s last body of work is found to be more explicit here and that is a sense of humor expressed in some of the forms.  This is especially evident in the dramatic silhouette paintings such as Punchinello goes to Texas. Here the central form

Punchinello goes to Texas, 2007, oil, medium, paper on wool carpet, 16.75 x 14.5 in

A Piece for Paxil, 2007, oil, medium, paper on wool carpet, 16.5 x 14 x 1.5 in

suggests a cartoon character in a cowboy hat and the background might be a western sunset or just as easily a woven Mexican blanket or an animation background.  Yet at the same time the dramaturgy surrounding the work lends this diminutive painting an epic quality.  To see these images online does not accurately convey the differences. When viewed ‘live’ its amazing how much visual power they evoke despite (or maybe because of) the huge amount of wall space surrounding them.  The combination of the two aspects is striking and the resulting ambiguity makes the work that more interesting.

So what is Richter after with in these paintings? In his previous work there was that underlying conceptual questioning of the limitations of paint as a medium by applying it as sculpture.  Albeit the paint in these pieces is, at times, grossly thick as already mentioned (and unaccountably done on carpet as a ground).  But the