Image Acts and Painting Act through the Index Concept in the Work of Gerhard Richter

Abstract

This article brings to the forefront the analysis of the work of Gerhard Richter’s photopictures in terms of index, as they reflect a causality with the model from which they start, and are constructed from the anti-style of the own mechanics forms of their execution. This circumstance in its definition causes that a relation is established on the meanings the images in terms of acts. To do this, the discourse first focuses on index terms, a hybrid between photography and painting. Next, the painting acts according to Osborne and how they revert in the work of Richter are analyzed. In the third place, the image act in the sense of Bredekamp are analyzed; in fourth place, apply this theory to the artist’s photopaintings. Finally, we reflect on the coexistence in the pictorial work of the two types of acts, different and each one in its interpretation, through the index concept.