"If, while I'm painting, I distort or destroy a motif, it is not a planned or conscious act, but rather it has a different justification: I see the motif, the way I painted it, is somehow ugly or unbearable. Then I try to follow my feelings and make it attractive. And that means a process of painting, changing or destroying β for however long it takes β until I think it has improved. And I don't demand an explanation from myself as to why this is so."
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Original Language: English
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Quote in an interview with Astrid Kaspar, 2000; as cited on collected quotes on the website of Gerhard Richter: 'on Techniques'
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerhard_Richter
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