Letter from Gerhard Richter
Dave,
I am glad to hear that I am your favorite painter and that my old painting Betty was the most inspiring piece of your early career. Your work is interesting in the way that you work in different ways over time. I dont know if you know this but I do the same thing. In the letter you sent me you seem to be very worried about needing to decide what you should do forever. All you need to do forever is make art. You dont need to paint portraits, or paint all abstractions, or do whatever you decide to do next for the rest of your career. You dont need to paint forever, you dont need to stop painting and sculpt forever. Just make things. Make good things, and bad things, and things that you are indifferent towards. Create a great mass of work and look back at what you have done and decide what is good, what is bad, etc. Look back at your great mass of works and let it help you decide how to start your next great mass of work. Then look back at the two masses you have created and realize that it is all just the one great mass of your work. Decide what you think is good again. Change your mind the next day. Realize that you are your most harsh critique as well as your own biggest fan. Both of these things can easily be your downfall or the reason you achieve. No one will ever give you "enough praise" no one will ever "spend enough on your work" to make you like your work that you really hate. No one will ever say something that makes you realize you were wrong to truly love something you have made. Trust yourself... just not too much. Make what you want to make until you dont want to make it anymore, then make something new... or remake something old in a new way... or remake something new in your old way, but dont ever let yourself stop making.
Your hero
Gerhard Richter
p.s. I also suggest getting a few assistants and treating them like subhuman slaves meant to do nothing but fulfill the desires of their genius master. If you dont believe me watch my netflix documentary and try your best to read between the lines of what both they and I say.
SLXLM
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