FEATURE 46 - Hans Richter

Went to view an excellent exhibition at Kettles Yard called Modern Times - responding to Chaos. The curator Lutz Becker has chosen mostly line work done on paper and covers artists from 20th and 21st Centuries. I was struck by the intesity of their graphic explorations, and the complete absence of any definite perspective visually or culturally. In fact this era could be called 'The complete loss of perspective'. The new fieldwork that this opened up for art to explore was liberating at the time. I get a sense that its well exhausted now, and all we are left with is the feeling of not knowing what we are looking at, or looking for, any more. The multiplicity of ways of seeing is confusing, if not overwhelming. We've now moved into the era of 'Too much Choice.'

My favorite bits were the early film experiments of Hans Richter. Crudely executed by modern day standards, but experimenting with what the new art form film could do in visually abstract ways, once robbed of the need to tell a story.