Results for articles with tag 'lucthymans' (1 total)
02/04/2010 11:15:00 AM 
Now, thanks to the efforts of SFMOMA and others a retrospective of his work can be seen in the US.
It's work that on the surface challenges the conventions of painting, but more than that, uses art to provoke discussion about history and culture.
At first glance, it's hard to take in the work. The color palette is muted and depressed, there seems to be an artificial barrier between the canvas and the viewer, it's like he doesn't want you to get close.
There's one series of paintings of banal objects that are out of focus, blurred so that they look like fragments of our memories, but many of these have deeper stories behind them (that's Tuymans style); a body lying innocently on a couch turns out to be a murder victim, the portrait of a man that seems very ordinary, is in fact, a a cancer sufferer.
At its core, Tuymans best work deals with politics and history. There are two series that deal with World War 2; one with concentration camps and the other the broader theme of Nazism.
While many of these WW 2 paintings here are difficult to view, often being minimal and sparse, they all have deeper stories to tell, but when viewed as a series, complete an arc.
In his architect series about Nazi Germany, there's a painting from a photo of Albert Speer on skis and a blurred out portrait of Himmler which render these key protagonists dangerously harmless and innocent.
The work that explores the Belgian colonization of the Congo is perhaps the most impressive. It highlights the key motifs of the story by isolating the key players and covering the assassination of a leader and the exploitation of resources. It's also art that caused a political response, this series was first shown at the Venice Biennale in 2001 and caused ripples that forced the Belgian government to admit their role in assassination of the Congolese leader.
American isn't spared as he explores the country post 9/11 with paintings that include a portrait of Condoleezza Rice and what appears to be a falling World Trade Center, but in reality is simply another demolition. Tuymans is telling us how we've all been manipulated by media repetition.
In a world where new, bright digital media is the "thing", Tuymans shows us that painting still has a potent role to play. He's using his art to challenge and warn us about the power of the diversity of media images that surround us. He's asking that constantly question ourselves to find deeper meaning in these images.
Posted by Ed Cotton
Articles for tag lucthymans (1 total).