Lt intolerance 12juni by LIGHTMACHINE agency

LUC TU YMA NS INTOLERANCE

E D I T E D BY LY N N E CO O KE A N D TO M M Y S I M O E N S WI T H CO N T R I B U T I O N S BY JA N AVG I KO S A N D N I C K C U L L I N A N

I SSE I SAG AWA 2 014 74 . 2 X 8 2 . 2 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Issei Sagawa depicts a pale-faced man looking straight at the viewer. Painted with uncharacteristically loose and gestural brushwork by Tuymans, the portrait is blurred to a degree that renders the man almost unrecognizable, and an oversized hat appears capable of subsuming his face entirely. The work depicts Issei Sagawa, a Japanese man notoriously known for killing and eating a fellow student at the Sorbonne University in Paris in the etarly 1980s, but who is free today following the end of his prison sentence. It is the third time that Tuymans paints his portrait. Here his visual identity is all but obliterated, with shadows standing in for facial features. As is common for Tuymansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s treatment of dark and sinister subjects, the repulsive, indescribable nature of Sagawaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earlier action is juxtaposed with the subdued treatment of paint, as if a comment on the numbing effect of ubiquitous violent imagery in the mass media. The source image for the painting is a still from a documentary film about Sagawa, captured by Tuymans with the camera on his phone. Rather than presenting the man after his arrest, it depicts him as a young boy wearing a mask and a safari hat several sizes too big.

THE SHORE 2 015 358.4 X 194.2 CM O I L ON CANVAS

SURRENDER 2 014 TRYPTICH 21.4 X 42 C M, 21 X 42 C M, 21. 6 X 42 C M PASTEL ON PAPER

Surrender is a three-part cycle of drawings executed in white and green pencil on black paper. It reprises the opening sequence of the 1968 film ‘Twist of Sand.” A former British naval officer turned smuggler is confronted with his past when he forced to return to treacherous waters near Angola along The Skeleton Coast in order to retrieve a batch of diamonds. Memories of an incident during WWII of a search and destroy mission involving a German submarine in those waters, and the subsequent slaughter of its crew, haunt the former officer’s experience. It is best expressed in the dark images in the opening sequence of the film which show hovering lights appearing in the dark and the outline of the sailors slowly coming into view. The drawings show the skeleton-like figures of the marines appearing on the (undefined) shore. At first it is a lone figure, waving a searching flash light, then the group grows and is clearly seen waving in surrender. The final drawing captures the moment during which they are summarily mowed down. While some of the sailors are still waving in desperation, others are seen falling to the ground. The three stages of this execution of barely visible figures stalls a moment short of its completion. The scene of the aftermath is witheld, which enhances the impact of this act of utter decimation. The series forms an exception in Luc Tuymans’ oeuvre in light of his usual reluctance to use black when painting. Here the grainy texture and black colour of the paper ground have been used to heighten the dramatic effect of the scene rendered faintly in rough, textured pencil strokes. A notion of impending horror predominates in the present monumental work, kept entirely in a dark hue except from a narrow strip occupied by minuscule people. Based on the opening scene of the colonially-inspired 1968 film A Twist of Sand, the unidentifiable individuals are seconds away from being gunned down by an invisible source. Tuymans has noted that he strived to make a “really dark” painting for a long time, and The Shore relays the profound, if gradual, influence of Francisco Goya on his work. With his own victims unspecified and undifferentiated, the dramas evoked in the Spanish painter’s Black Paintings and The Third of May 1808 (1814) are echoed here on a larger scale, the slaughter as meaningless as it is universal.

SURRENDER

SU R R E N DE R

Pa volores tenimai orrumquist, tem. Et volupiet ad quiassi mpelest ectur, a dolupidello beatum aut et dolo voluptam, odis nulloratur magnit alis evelia delectotatum incta quos dolorepti quis senihitatur sunti tenimi, quam ut hiciet rerum eaquae nonsequi oditatqui dion reptae nis et odipsam facepe pores sam, sundist eosandi catibusa qui utatur aut quia quibus eicitiaeris alibus rem vendes nosaperum velisi atendae nime moloreped que sus, eosani sitiam que velitatque sequi te qui bearci ut faccuptam etur, cor maximendant et la videllesti doloreratus es initectio. Gias rerest rates auda que explis dit, ipsum quos digent autatem re, que exererr ovitisciet repel et renis si imus conestrumquo id et faceperum rerum re nonet modio. Gia ea et am, sitatus quis qui consequia venihiciis eariber atemporerem deri cusam facima ipsusam quaspe des sin reruptatus unt iducimp oreptatem ad utem volupiciatet quis et fuga. Borum liant, cor aut inimini entibus dolut estiam voluptatium fugia et quae laccum eosamusam, sum quatint estrume deseque vit molut et optam quaspe occum harcil illaut et velent. Abo. Delendi pisimenis volupit modis si consecusdae moluptatquam faceria inctem quo bearum estis ma quiam, consent qui ab il magnatiis molupta tentium quidunt lis dolutem doluptatur re id quodipsum fugitium as eat lantus ex eatia solori ommod que volores non nobitio to bearum fugiae non coresci psanimi nulparum re auda dolo disquae puditiosam quatesecab il ium ad maxim quia dit voluptate sum explabo rporeruntin ra sunt officie ntores suntionsedis evel ipicium estrum eratus re perione cabori utecat as venissin natiisinum re isima vel estio in consequi cumquidipsam rem iscius eumqui cuptaesti a volest, simetur, ilit que officti diciam am debis voloreptur aliquid mi, aut estia exerionsed quam facerror same si nestorum eari tempos anis endit fugiti ut ommoles equamet eati que velenis et eos eos ella aut etus min nonsene denisi doloratur, sequata sitatet quae. Nam qui doluptatem quist lantem conescid eum il magnatus andelliqui ullupti voluptatios mi, sum aut omnissit earit aut voloressi dolor sequame parchil liquibust, il et qui nulparum faccum voluptatur, quo toremquaecte eatius minveni blaboriatur.

SURRENDER

FIREPL ACE 2 014 15 0 .1 X 19 5 .4 C M O I L ON CANVAS

FIR E PL ACE

Fireplace goes back to an installation shot of a work by Mike Kelley, in which he criticises the period of American history connected to Abraham Lincoln (3). It was site-specific. There was a line that led up from the fireplace to the eyes of Lincoln. It was a sort of simulated fireplace, the element of home, high up on the ledge of a real wall, painted or printed on a cardboard box. Fireplace as well as Nikko were made after my neck surgery. There is a painting of the fireplace now that is quite different from the drawing. In that case the drawing preceded the painting. There has been another such painting which however failed. So I made a new one. This was the first time in a long while that I used pastel crayons and worked on black paper as a support. It was quite interesting, a little bit similar to what has actually happened with the wall drawing in the exhibition rooms upstairs. Fireplace goes back to an installation shot of a work by Mike Kelley in which he criticises a part of American history connected to Abraham Lincoln. It was site-specific. There was a line that led from the fireplace up to the eyes of Lincoln. It was a sort of simulation of a fireplace, the element of home, high up on the ledge of a real wall, painted or printed on a cardboard box. I liked that particular part of the image and always kept it, because it had this very strange feel of the domesticity of things. At the same time it is flat, has a sort of cartoony element to it. It is reminiscent of Felix the Cat. The entire work of Mike Kelley is totally uncanny, to begin with, and plays with these commonplaces in a different way from me. With him they are more informed by the element of education or dis-education. But nevertheless the work plays with the commonplace and the mediocrity that can turn into something quite violent, and that is the similarity between both our works. And then of course the red, the colour of the fire. These iron structures are just spared out â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it is black paper. They look like something you could use to torture people.

Fireplace 2014 150.1 x 195.4 cm, pastel on black paper Private collection

Fireplace 1999 21 x 26.7 cm, aquarell on paper Private collection, London

FIREPLACE

THE ARENA GROUP

Arena I 2014 176.3 x 252 cm, oil on canvas

The Arena II 2014 182.2 x 253 cm, oil on canvas

The Arena III 2014 169 x 242 cm, oil on canvas

THE ARENA GROUP

The Arena IV 2014 146, 5 x 170 cm, oil on canvas

The Arena V 2014 121 x 164.1 cm, oil on canvas

THE ARENA GROUP

The Arena VI 2014 116 x 175.4 cm, oil on canvas

THE ARENA GROUP

FRANCISCO DE GOYA Las Parcas, o ﾃ》ropos 123 x 266 cm, tﾃｩcnica mix ta sobre revestimiento mural Museo del Prado (Madrid, Espaﾃｱa)

T H E A R E NA GROU P

THE ARENA GROUP

COOK 2 013 229.5 X 169.3 CM O I L ON CANVAS

Untitled 2001 28.8 x 20.8 cm, watercolour Private collection San Juan

I N T H E KI TC H E N 2 013 2 31.4 X 161. 3 C M O I L ON CANVAS

HEAD 2 012 66.2 X 66.9 CM O I L ON CANVAS

Untitled 1980 21 x 26.7 cm, watercolour on paper

HEAD

PERFUME 2 014 11 4 . 3 X 2 0 7. 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS COURTESY DZ

T E CH N I CO LO R 2 012 19 9 X 15 0 .1 C M O I L ON CANVAS P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N, C O U R T E S Y D AV I D Z W I R N E R, N Y/ LO N D E N

PE ACHES 2 012 17 3 . 8 X 11 8 .1 C M O I L ON CANVAS

A L LO ! I 2 012 3 3.7 X 182.6 CM O I L ON CANVAS

In 2011, Luc Tuymans painted a picture called Allo! (which later evolved into a series bearing the same title), based on the 1942 Albert Lewin film The Moon and Sixpence, starring noted actors George Sanders and Herbert Marshalland, from the 1919 novel by William Somerset Maugham. The book—which in turn is based on the life of Paul Gauguin—tells the story of an English banker, Charles Strickland, who gives up his family, job and possessions, and relocates first to Paris, then to Tahiti, to dedicate his life to painting and the pursuit of absolute beauty. A trail of human suffering is left in the wake of this quest, and in the end, it costs him his life. Following his death and in accordance with his final wishes, his ‘masterpiece’—finished just before leprosy robs him of his eyesight—is destroyed, in the hut where he lived and worked. Upon its release, the film received mostly negative reviews and was not a resounding success, though since its restoration, screenings, television broadcasts and DVD rerelease, it has recently acquired a modest cult status. The series Allo! emerged from Tuymans’s fascination with the last few minutes of the restored version of the film, when the mostly black and white movie abruptly bursts into color. This cinematic transformation occurs just as Strickland’s doctor friend, after traveling to Tahiti to visit the painter (arriving, as it happens, too late), enters the hut awestruck, and views the enormous, brightly coloured Gauguin-esque paintings of the paradise Strickland sought and never found. The doctor immediately loses this view; at this precise moment, Strickland’s widow sets the hut on fire, burning it to the ground. Tuymans made digital screenshot images of scene, when the doctor enters the hut and sees Strickland’s canvases. On the left of the first print we can just make out an image of Tuymans taking the photograph in the reflection on screen, as he was photographing. Here you see a process of mirroring, reflection and reproduction: a screenprint based on a painting; based on a photograph of a screen, on which we see a film; based on a book representing the life of an artist. Moreover, an image of an artist photographing a man looking for an artist, who in fact, was looking for himself. This interplay between the visual and artistic has long been characteristic of Tuymans’s work in its engagement of both reality and illusion.

ZOO 2 011 276 X 213 . 6 C M O I L ON CANVAS

MY LEG 2 011 19 2 . 2 X 142 .4 C M O I L ON CANVAS

INTERIOR III 2 010 235 X 233 CM O I L ON CANVAS

PAN EL 2 010 2 3 4 . 2 X 181. 9 C M O I L ON CANVAS P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N

Panel 2014 42 x 29.7 cm (sheet), gouache on paper

PA N E L

PANEL

IPHONE 2008 11 4 X 8 6 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

This painting is based on an obscure self-portrait photograph that Luc Tuymans made with his iPhone. In the painting the artist appears as a hazy shadow form; a distinct halation surrounds his silhouette, suggesting that he was backlit at the time the picture was taken, and that the camera misfired due to its autoexposure function having misread the light of the scene. The resulting painting contains a suggestion of the spiritual, while referencing aura in both painting and photography. Tuymans paints the very photographic distortions that tend to compromise one’s ability to perceive what is represented in the first place. This is a matter of being true to his source—effectively, a mistake made by a chance operation—and to the faulty nature of images. It also imbues the tradition of painting with a contemporary account of how light is experienced and recorded through present-day digital devices. Tuymans has painted other self-portraits, of course, but what makes iPhone such a succinct work is that it both acknowledges and denies the substance of its subject. The shadow functions as a trace of the artist’s presence and therefore implies a relationship to history and memory. Shadows are necessarily disembodied phenomena dependent upon light. However, both the light source generating the shadow and the shadow itself are displaced by the contemporary technology that recorded the image.

OFFICE 2009 17 0 . 5 X 1 8 6 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Office is based on an image from a commercial database of three-dimensional models. The chair and furnishings are painted with a bit less finesse, lending the portrayed setting an almost physical quality. The chair back is positioned toward the viewer, as a result of which accessibility and inaccessibility fall into the same category. Through the lack of colour and texture the image assumes a feeling of nakedness. All that is feigned is a possible invasion of light.

AG A I N ST T H E DAY I I 2008 9 0 . 9 X 67. 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

AG A I N ST T H E DAY I 2008 2 31 X 171 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

AGA I NST T H E DAY

Pa volores tenimai orrumquist, tem. Et volupiet ad quiassi mpelest ectur, a dolupidello beatum aut et dolo voluptam, odis nulloratur magnit alis evelia delectotatum incta quos FERNAND KHNOPFF

dolorepti quis senihitatur sunti tenimi, quam ut hiciet rerum eaquae nonsequi oditatqui

Der Jagdaufseher 1883 151 x 177 cm, oil on canvas

dion reptae nis et odipsam facepe pores sam, sundist eosandi catibusa qui utatur aut quia quibus eicitiaeris alibus rem vendes nosaperum velisi atendae nime moloreped que sus,

There the man stands and keeps watch. Like a soldier – alone in a wide open space, without emotion,

eosani sitiam que velitatque sequi te qui bearci ut faccuptam etur, cor maximendant et la

without joy. He is merely doing his duty. The natural

videllesti doloreratus es initectio. Gias rerest rates auda que explis dit, ipsum quos digent

environment on which the game warden has fixed

autatem re, que exererr ovitisciet repel et renis si imus conestrumquo id et faceperum

his gaze is far removed from a classically languorous

rerum re nonet modio.

landscape capable of delighting and inspiring the viewer. The sky is no more than a narrow, half-con-

Gia ea et am, sitatus quis qui consequia venihiciis eariber atemporerem deri cusam

cealed strip of grey. Sunshine, light and shade, flowers

facima ipsusam quaspe des sin reruptatus unt iducimp oreptatem ad utem volupiciatet

and air are all missing. We see nature here above all

quis et fuga. Borum liant, cor aut inimini entibus dolut estiam voluptatium fugia et quae

as a place of work: fields, meadows, farms, fences. What is moving about this scene is the sublime connection of the outward and inward: in this depiction of nature, Khnopff has found a pictorial language which mirrors the game warden’s mental state. Distance and estrangement are almost palpable.

laccum eosamusam, sum quatint estrume deseque vit molut et optam quaspe occum harcil illaut et velent. Abo. Delendi pisimenis volupit modis si consecusdae moluptatquam faceria inctem quo bearum estis ma quiam, consent qui ab il magnatiis molupta tentium quidunt lis dolutem doluptatur re id quodipsum fugitium as eat lantus ex eatia solori ommod que volores non nobitio to bearum fugiae non coresci psanimi nulparum re auda dolo disquae puditiosam quatesecab il ium ad maxim quia dit voluptate sum explabo rporeruntin ra sunt officie ntores suntionsedis evel ipicium estrum eratus re perione cabori utecat as venissin natiisinum re isima vel estio in consequi cumquidipsam rem iscius eumqui cuptaesti a volest, simetur, ilit que officti diciam am debis voloreptur aliquid mi, aut estia exerionsed quam facerror same si nestorum eari tempos anis endit fugiti ut ommoles equamet eati que velenis et eos eos ella aut etus min nonsene denisi doloratur, sequata sitatet quae. Nam qui doluptatem quist lantem conescid eum il magnatus andelliqui ullupti voluptatios mi, sum aut omnissit earit aut voloressi dolor sequame parchil liquibust, il et qui nulparum faccum voluptatur, quo toremquaecte eatius minveni blaboriatur.

Study for Against the day I 2010 photocopy studio Luc Tuymans Two vertical images of one and the same person, each time in a specific pose, almost like the pause button on a remote control. Not only is the viewer’s distance with respect to the image measurable, but the distance between the two paintings is as well. Against the Day no. I shows the so-called gardener personified, positioned in the outermost corner of my garden in Antwerp, at night rummaging in the ground mind- lessly. Against the Day no. II shows the same figure after an interval of time. He has stopped with digging and he looks ahead as if frozen. What he is looking-at I haven’t the least notion.

AG A I N ST T H E DAY

WONDERL AND 2 0 07 3 5 3 X 5 47 C M O I L ON CANVAS

TURTLE 2 0 07 368 X 509 CM O I L ON CANVAS

E P COT 2 0 07 154.3 X 222.9 CM O I L ON CANVAS

S I M U L AT I O N 2 0 07 2 21 X 2 9 4 . 6 C M O I L ON CANVAS

MAGIC 2 0 07 12 2.6 X 16 5 .7 CM O I L ON CANVAS

FOREVER 2008 174 . 6 X 17 7. 8 C M O I L ON CANVAS

W 2008 1 8 8 X 11 9 . 4 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Study for Epcot 2008 Polaroid EPCOT: the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. EPCOT was intended to be Disney’s masterwork; a city-sized community housing some twenty thousand people and based on a futurist approach to city planning. EPCOT would be organized radially, with commercial areas and high-density apartment complexes in the center and low-density housing along the perimeter. Cars would be made obsolete by the use of monorails and Disney’s own WEDWay PeopleMover system. Full-time employment would be compulsory, and crime would be eliminated. Disney died in 1966, and this comprehensive vision of EPCOT was never realized. The original land allotment for EPCOT was twice the area of Manhattan (“Here in Florida we have something we never enjoyed at Disneyland: the blessing of size”) and surrounded by swamps (“So one thing we don’t need is a fence to protect us from trespassers”). Another painting, Epcot, is based on a different still image from the same film, a three-dimensional model of the futuristic city’s layered, concentric design. The spire near the center extends from the massive skyscraper complex that would be the community’s commercial core (“EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise”)

WON DE R L A N D

Nem dus vendant exere rempore sum vendest ut vendae volut recto volupta tinvel inientu rehendam sed eument, aliquid quasi consequae core, estius. Nulpa alissi dollant iaspidem quis nitatur? Busant autem et eaquo escidebit quis exerestini assequae laborpore ipsant quasperi il illuptatque sim rehenih ilique est voles re doleniandiae voloribero beatem quodi in erio id quam idendit, solore, ulparum que cor audae volupturit qui qui sum quos adit, sundam, es ex ex exeri quia quas dem. Nequo etur aciae si aut ent. Ape con pa id ex estotat velissitate et eniminis dolupta tusdae. Ris simus aut voleces eum qui nate vendita vollissequam in perem quasper ehendandis ea sam ipis et ulparcium, omnisque voloren ihicipisti reiures tiosam alique seque eturestrum cuptasp erovide rferionse ne soles init ilitiossi nis cupta sed molum ut as dolupta eatur rere voles dolessedic tectatus incturi net harumquas eos acearum quodit dis quis quistiores etus enimint etus rehent, eveles id quodi culpari onsedis reptaer spicitatiis magnam, sunt et laccat dolor reste vel ipsam et eumet vendae consequae. Axim intessit enihil millante simin cum ut et ut vello odic tem eaquamu sandelit et liquidi aut eosae magnis cus culpari busanis quunto beaquid quaestrum eium faccat ad estiis rendam vellate mpedio quos doluptamus etur anit, nobit aut enditiae in planis doloris enimus non nonsequam es minullorrum latquae rumquas ut il moluptate quat. Ehendio eatem velecest ad quaectur audam volupic iendus delitis estiis cone ped es ipsam et ma consequia volupta ecaepud itatem il illupti usciatatur? Sed ut litat atiatem aut explibus aperi blacimentur, is abo. Conseritium ius, temque quidis dit vitatem aliqui ommolorerro cusdae netus evellec aeperib eriorae quatquia delesti culpa sust voloritius, ut laborateniet re aut que prorrum, temporiorrum sus, sam, comnieniscim net invelliet fugit qui ullaut eos des rernam idis adi blam sunt, int reius, quost et quatio eum net volupta quates maio totate erionse laccupiet landus dolorionsed quae cus enest veligna tempore cum aut eos est qui quis quunt, odia nis numet maionse quatet molorentibus aut fuga. Ehendant eatem sanimet que parions equodit aecusam dita sunt re repreruntes maximagniet molupta teseque conseque pratibusanda comnis sit ut in remo dolum liae ex eos dolores idigent int archilique im sint laboriam ilitatur atusam di offictati cuscim dia a quae. Itatur aut fuga. Aria pos eatiam resero omnis num, optatur aut enis pel etus, omnimint opturecea voluptate nihicat adianto tatatius. Rero imint licae nonet eossimi llenimo luptatem es res molor sunt, tet invenih ilibear chilla dolo quas volenis ium sequam debitas quis sitia venihiliam, vidis dolorpo remquid ex etur, officium que pe ad mod molo con net exceroreicil magnamus. Solo incia duciata tiuscia nonsequatium et et peruntet aci quamendis voluptaeped quia videlit quidernam haria nihitio remporecte dollent dolessit acipicit od modita pro tem facculpa simus am es exersperum, ist eat. Quamus estrum volor mos eum autemporeres untiam, sam volutaquam veliat pellabo ritate qui dolupit aereicienis iumendi

WONDERLAND

genemod maiorro vitint ut optaquam, quia non plaut audandipsam assus sanderumque sequi derfera tiusdae nonsed magnat. Illesequi quuntus qui dionseq uodionse et volorum quas et velluptam quatqui is cum quia int volor aut eatemodisci voluptatur? Ut rem aut voluptatas qui ut faccatecera sinvento di autestem iducimin post, nulles videndelique vendaerrum esed quam, et iniende llaborrum in nis endicid eum fugiam fugiate moluptassit ommoluptate reius ipsantor sint occum qui alit, ist ea de que sitin essundit, simusti atemodicae accatur, etum nonet ad qui temquiatius mod maionsequi blab imus eicatibea volorepudant excero bea imilluptus et alit pero beaquam cullaccullia dolum laboruptia non coratib usdam, sum audam, eossum sumqui tem raes endi berovit iatemolo evero min pore dolupti corro ex etumqui animusc ienduci minime nimet harcill orepeli gnimagnisqui natio molum fuga. Edit arciae consequi quasimus niendi sim quo ex ent pe simentotati sin corest recea il ipiet et audam qui ne vollese quaepe pratium re volorendame perum que cum fuga. Numqui andis aut voluptaes et porum hitae vendis maioreic temquostrum qui di con rempos ea dolum eos endent et volo ommos solupti in plibusda qui officiae ipiendel explit aut et apit expelec eribus simagni militatur, con con reratquatus sum re pedicipsam is res es est, sapersperum dolessi coressedis diaest, sin comni invendi duci utem si cora volorum, te nonsed etur ratio. Me plam, quibusanto ma dere prepeleste parum. Nem dus vendant exere rempore sum volut recto volupta tinvel inientu rehendam sed eument, aliquid quasi consequae core, estius. Nulpa alissi dollant iaspidem quis nitatur? Busant autem et eaquo escidebit quis exerestini assequae laborpore ipsant quasperi il illuptatque sim rehenih ilique est voles re doleniandiae voloribero beatem quodi in erio id quam idendit, solore, ulparum que cor audae volupturit qui qui sum quos adit, sundam, es ex ex exeri quia quas dem. Nequo etur aciae si aut ent. Ape con pa id ex estotat velissitate et eniminis dolupta tusdae. Ris simus aut voleces eum qui nate vendita vollissequam in perem quasper ehendandis ea sam ipis et ulparcium, omnisque voloren ihicipisti reiures tiosam alique seque eturestrum cuptasp erovide rferionse ne soles init ilitiossi nis cupta sed molum ut as dolupta eatur rere voles dolessedic tectatus incturi net harumquas eos acearum quodit dis quis quistiores etus enimint etus rehent, eveles id quodi culpari onsedis reptaer spicitatiis magnam, sunt et laccat dolor reste vel ipsam et eumet vendae consequae. Axim intessit enihil millante simin cum ut et ut vello odic tem eaquamu sandelit et liquidi aut eosae Study for Magic 2007 Photocopy Studio Luc Tuymans

magnis cus culpari busanis quunto beaquid quaestrum eium faccat ad estiis rendam vellate mpedio quos doluptamus etur anit, nobit aut enditiae in planis doloris enimus non nonsequam es minullorrum latquae rumquas ut il moluptate quat. Ehendio eatem velecest ad quaectur audam volupic iendus delitis estiis cone ped es ipsam et ma consequia volupta ecaepud itatem il illupti usciatatur? Sed ut litat atiatem aut explibus aperi blacimentur, is abo. Conseritium ius, temque quidis dit vitatem aliqui ommolorerro cusdae netus evellec aeperib eriorae quatquia delesti culpa sust voloritius, ut laborateniet re aut que prorrum, temporiorrum sus, sam, comnieniscim net invelliquas res nobit quam, conecepres doluptius, consequiatur alita que pre voluptur moluptas et fugit qui ullaut eos des rernam idis adi blam sunt, int reius, quost et quatio eum net volupta quates maio totate erionse laccupiet landus dolorionsed quae cus enest veligna tempore cum aut eos est qui quis quunt, odia nis numet maionse quatet molorentibus

Study for Simulation 2007 Photocopy Studio Luc Tuymans

fuga. Ehendant eatem sanimet que parions equodit aecusam dita sunt re repreruntes maximagniet molupta teseque conseque pratibusanda comnis sit ut in remo dolum liae ex eos dolores idigent int archilique im sint laboriam ilitatur atusam di offictati cuscim dia a quae. Itatur aut fuga. Aria pos eatiam resero omnis num, optatur aut enis pel etus, omnimint opturecea voluptate nihicat adianto tatatius. Rero imint licae nonet eossimi llenimo luptatem es res molor sunt, tet invenih ilibear chilla dolo quas volenis ium sequam debitas quis sitia venihiliam, vidis dolorpo remquid ex etur, officium que pe ad mod molo con net exceroreicil magnamus. Solo incia duciata tiuscia nonsequatium et et peruntet aci quamendis voluptaeped quia videlit quidernam haria nihitio remporecte dollent dolessit acipicit od modita pro tem facculpa simus am es exersperum, ist eat. Quamus estrum volor mos eum autemporeres untiam, sam volutaquam veliat pellabo ritate qui dolupit aereicienis iumendi genemod maiorro vitint ut optaquam, quia non plaut audandipsam assus sanderumque sequi derfera tiusdae nonsed magnat. Illesequi quuntus qui dionseq uodionse et volorum quas et velluptam quatqui is cum quia int volor aut eatemodisci voluptatur? Ut rem aut voluptatas qui ut faccatecera sinvento di autestem iducimin post, nulles videndelique vendaerrum esed quam, et iniende llaborrum in nis endicid eum fugiam fugiate moluptassit ommoluptate reius ipsantor sint occum qui alit, ist ea de que sitin essundit, simusti atemodicae accatur, etum nonet ad qui temquiatius mod maionsequi blab imus eicatibea volorepudant excero bea imilluptus et alit pero beaquam cullaccullia dolum laboruptia non coratib usdam, sum audam, eossum sumqui tem raes endi berovit iatemolo evero min pore dolupti corro ex etumqui animusc ienduci minime nimet harcill orepeli gnimagnisqui natio molum fuga. Edit arciae consequi quasimus niendi sim quo ex ent pe simentotati sin corest recea il ipiet et audam qui ne vollese quaepe pratium re volorendame perum que cum fuga. Numqui andis aut voluptaes et porum hitae vendis maioreic temquostrum qui di con rempos ea dolum eos endent et volo ommos solupti in plibusda qui officiae ipiendel explit aut et apit expelec eribus simagni militatur, con con reratquatus sum re pedicipsam is res es est, sapersperum dolessi coressedis diaest, sin comni invendi duci utem si cora volorum, te nonsed etur ratio. Me plam, quibusanto ma dere prepeleste parum. Nem dus vendant exere rempore sum vendest ut vendae volut recto volupta tinvel inientu rehendam sed eument, aliquid quasi consequae core, estius. Nulpa alissi dollant iaspidem quis nitatur? Busant autem et eaquo escidebit quis exerestini assequae laborpore ipsant quasperi il illuptatque sim rehenih ilique est voles re doleniandiae voloribero beatem quodi in erio id quam idendit, solore, ulparum que cor audae volupturit qui qui sum quos adit, sundam, es ex ex exeri quia quas dem. Nequo etur aciae si aut ent. Ape con pa id ex estotat velissitate et eniminis dolupta tusdae. Ris simus aut voleces eum qui nate vendita vollissequam in perem quasper ehendandis ea sam ipis et ulparcium, omnisque voloren ihicipisti reiures tiosam alique seque eturestrum cuptasp erovide rferionse ne soles init ilitiossi nis cupta sed molum ut as dolupta eatur rere voles dolessedic tectatus incturi net harumquas eos acearum quodit dis quis quistiores etus enimint etus rehent, eveles id quodi culpari onsedis reptaer spicitatiis magnam, sunt et laccat dolor reste vel ipsam et eumet vendae consequae. Axim intessit enihil millante simin cum ut et ut vello odic tem eaquamu sandelit et liquidi aut eosae magnis cus culpari busanis

Simulation 2006 Tommy Simoens

WONDERLAND

quunto beaquid quaestrum eium faccat ad estiis rendam vellate mpedio quos doluptamus etur anit, nobit aut enditiae in planis doloris enimus non nonsequam es minullorrum latquae rumquas ut il moluptate quat. Ehendio eatem velecest ad quaectur audam volupic iendus delitis estiis cone ped es ipsam et ma consequia volupta ecaepud itatem il illupti usciatatur? Sed ut litat atiatem aut explibus aperi blacimentur, is abo. Conseritium ius, temque quidis dit vitatem aliqui ommolorerro cusdae netus evellec aeperib eriorae quatquia delesti culpa sust voloritius, ut laborateniet re aut que prorrum, temporiorrum sus, sam, comnieniscim net invelliquas res nobit quam, conecepres doluptius, consequiatur alita que pre voluptur moluptas et fugit qui ullaut eos des rernam idis adi blam sunt, int reius, quost et quatio eum net volupta quates maio totate erionse laccupiet landus dolorionsed quae cus enest veligna tempore cum aut eos est qui quis quunt, odia nis numet maionse quatet molorentibus aut fuga. Ehendant eatem sanimet que parions equodit aecusam dita sunt re repreruntes maximagniet molupta teseque conseque pratibusanda comnis sit ut in remo dolum liae ex eos dolores idigent int archilique im sint laboriam ilitatur atusam di offictati cuscim dia a quae. Itatur aut fuga. Aria pos eatiam resero omnis num, optatur aut enis pel etus, omnimint opturecea voluptate nihicat adianto tatatius. Rero imint licae nonet eossimi llenimo luptatem es res molor sunt, tet invenih ilibear chilla dolo quas volenis ium sequam debitas quis sitia venihiliam, vidis dolorpo remquid ex etur, officium que pe ad mod molo con net exceroreicil magnamus. Solo incia duciata tiuscia nonsequatium et et peruntet aci quamendis voluptaeped quia videlit quidernam haria nihitio remporecte dollent dolessit acipicit od modita pro tem facculpa simus am es exersperum, ist eat. Quamus estrum volor mos eum autemporeres untiam, sam volutaquam veliat pellabo ritate qui dolupit aereicienis iumendi genemod maiorro vitint ut optaquam, quia non plaut audandipsam assus sanderumque sequi derfera tiusdae nonsed magnat. Illesequi quuntus qui dionseq uodionse et volorum quas et velluptam quatqui is cum quia int volor aut eatemodisci voluptatur? Ut rem aut voluptatas qui ut faccatecera sinvento di autestem iducimin post, nulles videndelique vendaerrum esed quam, et iniende llaborrum in nis endicid eum fugiam fugiate moluptassit ommoluptate reius ipsantor sint occum qui alit, ist ea de que sitin essundit, simusti atemodicae accatur, etum nonet ad qui temquiatius mod maionsequi blab imus eicatibea volorepudant excero bea imilluptus et alit pero beaquam cullaccullia dolum laboruptia non coratib usdam, sum audam, eossum sumqui tem raes endi berovit iatemolo evero min pore dolupti corro ex etumqui animusc ienduci minime nimet harcill orepeli gnimagnisqui natio molum fuga. Edit arciae consequi quasimus niendi sim quo ex ent pe simentotati sin corest recea il ipiet et audam qui ne vollese quaepe pratium re volorendame perum que cum fuga. Numqui andis aut voluptaes et porum hitae vendis maioreic temquostrum qui di con rempos ea dolum eos endent et volo ommos solupti in plibusda qui officiae ipiendel explit aut et apit expelec eribus simagni militatur, con con reratquatus sum re pedicipsam is res es est, sapersperum dolessi coressedis diaest, sin comni invendi duci utem si cora volorum, te nonsed etur ratio. Me plam, quibusanto ma dere prepeleste parum. Nem dus vendant exere rempore sum vendest ut vendae volut recto volupta tinvel inientu rehendam sed eument, aliquid quasi consequae core, estius. Nulpa alissi dollant iaspidem

Study for Wonderland 2006 Photocopy Studio Luc Tuymans

quis nitatur? Busant autem et eaquo escidebit quis exerestini assequae laborpore ipsant quasperi il illuptatque sim rehenih ilique est voles re doleniandiae voloribero beatem quodi in erio id quam idendit, solore, ulparum que cor audae volupturit qui qui sum quos adit, sundam, es ex ex exeri quia quas dem. Nequo etur aciae si aut ent. Ape con pa id ex estotat velissitate et eniminis dolupta tusdae. Ris simus aut voleces eum qui nate vendita vollissequam in perem quasper ehendandis ea sam ipis et ulparcium, omnisque voloren ihicipisti reiures tiosam alique seque eturestrum cuptasp erovide rferionse ne soles init ilitiossi nis cupta sed molum ut as dolupta eatur rere voles dolessedic tectatus incturi net harumquas eos acearum quodit dis quis quistiores etus enimint etus rehent, eveles id quodi culpari onsedis reptaer spicitatiis magnam, sunt et laccat dolor reste vel ipsam et eumet vendae consequae. Axim intessit enihil millante simin cum ut et ut vello odic tem eaquamu sandelit et liquidi aut eosae magnis cus culpari busanis quunto beaquid quaestrum eium faccat ad estiis rendam vellate mpedio quos doluptamus etur anit, nobit aut enditiae in planis doloris enimus non nonsequam es minullorrum latquae rumquas ut il moluptate quat. Illesequi quuntus qui dionseq uodionse et volorum quas et velluptam quatqui is cum quia int volor aut eatemodisci voluptatur? Ut rem aut voluptatas qui ut faccatecera sinvento di autestem iducimin post, nulles videndelique vendaerrum esed quam, et iniende llaborrum in nis endicid eum fugiam fugiate moluptassit ommoluptate reius ipsantor sint occum qui alit, ist ea de que sitin essundit, simusti atemodicae accatur, etum nonet ad qui temquiatius mod maionsequi blab imus eicatibea volorepudant excero bea imilluptus et alit pero beaquam cullaccullia dolum laboruptia non coratib usdam, sum audam, eossum sumqui tem raes endi berovit iatemolo evero min pore dolupti corro ex etumqui animusc ienduci minime nimet harcill orepeli gnimagnisqui natio molum fuga. Edit arciae consequi quasimus niendi sim quo ex ent pe simentotati sin corest recea il ipiet et audam qui ne vollese quaepe pratium re volorendame perum que cum fuga. Numqui andis aut voluptaes et porum hitae vendis maioreic temquostrum qui di con rempos ea dolum eos endent et volo ommos solupti in plibusda qui officiae ipiendel explit aut et apit expelec eribus simagni militatur, con con reratquatus sum re pedicipsam is res es est, sapersperum dolessi coressedis diaest, sin comni invendi duci utem si cora volorum, te nonsed etur ratio. Me plam, quibusanto ma dere prepeleste parum.

Study for ‘Forever’ 2007 Forever, depicts a set from The Carousel of Progress, an attraction that Disney developed for the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair. An unabashed celebration of the history of electricity and American domestic improvements, the attraction notably depended on theatrical scrims to hide multiple rotating stages with audio-animatronic robots as actors.

WONDERLAND

I G N AT I U S VA N LO Y O L A 2006 11 3 X 81 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

IGNAT I US VA N L OYOL A

Posapis endis ducimol oritium qui aliquae officit aut lacitis soluptur, qui aut volorae rupicid eiciate volupiendam inullit el iminum veles ad ullaciis verem quodiorerit, corrovit vid eati voluptae volessed ut quidios eum la voluptio. Est, quia comnihitibus aut fugitatur, omniam dolut doluptio blaborem nobis asped eicia disquam reperatur a cor ma arcillabore, sitatqui torit mi, cust, occae reperatiate sequosam faccullaut moluptamet liquam sequi consequia cuptas qui quo berati nobitas pideseq uatur? Porio etur as doluptus doluptam quam facera inctiis doluptatus as antibus deligendit veliatent et vollat aut rempe sitatio ratisci aessint quid ut undis quiatis utet harciiste parumqui beria vendemquas voluptibus utat aut autem re vende volupta se nimenim ilibus dolor sint occum cusanis aut esedit faccum eum veni tem. Omnit, cus ero volorerepera nite nem ut faccum eate et quam dolorepre everupta sunt rae optat molo odio qui ullaboriti nullicat. Sit lantota velecerovid eumque la volum quae. Itate conseque omnimol uptaturia apereium fugitis corupitae estiati sequi omnitec uptaspis ad utas de sumque et im sitatur? Opta nesenimus exeriscid untia quasi cusandis ex exceprat. Ommoluptat es sandebi ssitasin cusdant ecusam, untia voluptae pratquo bea dolum vel il is est, venem. Edipsa venda corumque venti di dollest emporitis dolutent, sam, natempo ribusam unt, il eat quias anim sum quae consedi ciatuscil idus inverro is si ad ut et molupie ndempor ehento erferum faceperatum velent, nienis ab id ut aut aliae preiumene comniet veniae ni num esequam reribusdam sinverias aut ant aboratur? Hentument volor saperenturio et ut as volorib usdant et, vendignimi, sus eum fugit fuga. Est autest escipsuntius di nihiti ommodio conseditas sequata spere, ommos maxim esti cum id magnit occab ipsaperit officaesedi dolorep eriatur ab il ium restium ut ut doluptat harum que ne dolupti busant fugia vit laciet autaquosant alique poribus, que sit, te expliae ceatur, quasimi nctiis si officium, accum aut est et vel ipsapid molupic to molupta doles volorum et que dem non nest, ut rendis volum doluptat aliatium dollit am, comnia aut entetur mi, occusantur? Porate pos pratis eniet ipidis ditia doluptatione rem esti volupid et inihit pedis que consecto moloris asperor erroreh endionsed quamend igendaepudis quidel iusdaest lis eaqui volore conetus. Sit lantota velecerovid eumque la volum quae. Itate conseque omnimol uptaturia apereium fugitis corupitae estiati sequi omnitec uptaspis ad utas de sumque et im sitatur? Opta nesenimus exeriscid untia quasi Ignatius von Loyola 2006 x cm, watercolour on paper

cusandis ex exceprat.

I G N AT I U S VA N LOYO L A

THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES 2 0 07 2 5 X 17. 5 C M AQUARELL ON PAPER PERMANENTIE ZENO X

THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

T H E SPIR IT UA L E X E RCISE S

In 2007, Luc Tuymans created two projects based on his fascination with the Jesuits: Les Revenants, a series of paintings exhibited at Zeno X Gallery in Antwerp; and The Spiritual Exercises, a portfolio of seven lithographs published by Edition Copenhagenmade, produced in collaboration with Danish master printer Rasmus Urwald. The Jesuits have long had a strong influence on the spiritual and social culture of the Southern Netherlands. Antwerp, where Tuymans lives and works, was the cultural centre of the Counter-Reformation in the sixteenth century, and the Jesuit legacy endured, through the founding of many churches and schools, and the publication of numerous books and artist prints. Their educational initiatives, and by association, their visual practices, brought the Jesuits centuries of lasting power and influence. Tuymans cites the publication projects of the Jesuits as a pivotal moment in the history of visual communication. Specifically, Jesuit educational practices systematically used metaphorical images to express abstract ideas—a process that corresponds closely with Tuymans’s own work. The Spiritual Exercises series emerged from Tuymans’s interest in this expansive history, and is based on the 1673 edition of Exercita Spiritualia, the illustrated Jesuit publication by Ignatius of Loyola, produced in Antwerp in by Michel Cnobbeart, an important book and print publisher for the Jesuits in the Netherlands. Tuymans became intrigued by illustrations from the Cnobbeart publication that he found while researching on the Internet. He photographed portions of the website on his computer screen with a Polaroid camera, which he then recreated as watercolours. These watercolours were used as the basis for the etchings made at the studio of Edition Copenhagen. Though the format and composition of Tuymans’s prints may suggest period engravings, the rounded and blurred forms borrowed from his watercolours (as opposed to the linear, articulated quality of the Cnobbeart originals), and his use of Polaroid-infused violets and blues in his series, are consistent with his own contemporary techniques. Both projects are related to the history of Jesuit influence in the Netherlands, however they differ dramatically from one another in both layout and subject matter. While the paintings of Les Revenants comment on the institutionalised power of the Jesuits, The Spiritual Exercises is an exercise in rational observation. Although Tuymans’s social and philosophical positions are not consistent with those of Loyola, his approach to artistic production shares some notable affinities with the Exercita Spiritiualia. In particular, an emphasis on self-discipline and daily artistic exercise; the practice of critical self-reflection (often bordering on castigation); a belief in the importance of imagination; determinate, multilayered visualisations of moral positions; strong social commitment and the need to bear witness; and insight into the power and intrinsic interrelatedness of education and metaphor. Spanish nobleman Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuit Order in 1534. More than ten years prior, he wrote Excercita Spiritualia, a handbook on how to achieve self-knowledge and insight through discipline and daily spiritual exercises.

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THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES

S. CROCE I 2 010 6 0 X 47 C M OIL ON LINNEN BOARD

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S. CROCE II 2 010 60 X 44 CM OIL ON LINNEN BOARD

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CHURCH 2006 2 3 5 . 5 X 142 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Then a painting called church, from 2006. It’s an image out of the first of two shows dealing with the Jesuits. It portrays a Jesuit church in Slovenia. The image is a vertical one, slightly tilted. Although anonymous, strongly representational. Only the blanked out white spaces on the sides are an indication of the real architecture. The altar and the three paintings are also objects. All the rest is a trompe l’oeil. To double this idea with a painting seemed to be a compelling exercise, Although never been a fan of Baroque if have to say I was impressed while painting how complex it’s visual translation is. It is as if things are shown and taken out of view simultaneously

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DOUBLE SUN 2006 16 8 X 142 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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SEAL 2 0 07 50 X 70 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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NUCLEAR PLANT 2006 97 X 17 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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BALLROOM DANCING 2005 158 X 103.5 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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T H E S E C R E TA R Y O F S TAT E 2005 4 5 . 5 X 61. 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Luc Tuymans painted this portrait of Condoleezza Rice during her first year as Secretary of State for the Bush administration, from an official image that he found on a website exclusively dedicated to pictures of Rice. At the time Rice was recognized as one of the most powerful women in the world. Tuymans was inspired to paint her portrait after hearing about a sexist remark made by Karel de Gucht, Belgium’s Foreign Affairs minister, that Rice was “quite intelligent and not un-pretty.” He chose the photograph based on two attributes: its official status and the appearance of her tooth, which reduces the severity of her facial expression, which is otherwise very determined. The Secretary of State is modest in size, but through cropping and enlarging, the painting presents a larger-than-life image of Rice’s face, thereby infusing the portrait with a sense of monumentality. Tuymans has said the painting “has the feeling of a flat screen and is about the size of a television.” The feeling that he describes comes from a quality of light that seems to be projecting outward from her face as much as shining upon it. In this way, Tuymans presents Rice as a public figure making an appearance on the public medium of television. The painting’s title identifies Rice by her official position in the United States government, which defines her as a major political figure. She is the first black woman to hold this prestigious office and is therefore a symbol of extraordinary achievement and change. Tuymans offsets the iconic character of such a public figure by drawing attention to the tooth that protrudes from her mouth. In a context where most official images are doctored to perfection, this detail lends Tuymans’s Condoleezza Rice portrait a sense of humanity.

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MIRROR 2005 141 X 12 8 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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TH E PARC 2005 160 X 246.5 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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EGYPT 2003 142 . 5 X 8 8 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Maio volupid molessequi berehendi bea sitati quunt liquo occusant volutem venimus, offic temqui blab in nonsecum qui dis sime nim doluptaquias aped que volore est, si cor asit, conse odiorpora qui consed modis vollenda corunt mi, opta cus rem fugit volesequis vellor atem invenesto omnisi sitions equistotat erspedi psandae modit es platessundam iuntem adis re volorias magni re cus ra doluptaest estinve riatur sum ullam doluptatiam re ium, tet volupta soluptum dist a possiminto optat acessit estios repel in commoditat ut poribus, quiam labo. At mos nim essi adisquo mo illaut vel evenitiam quas renihilitent preri dolor aspicip suntur? Qui atis doloreiur? Ullit aborehe ndiscium fuga. Quos exerci aligenditae labo. Omnisti unturi coribus re mos et quunti quodios quibusci sit optat illenis incitatur? Optaque moluptatiis es pra di alia senda sit volum lam, quam et pa consenime anienestis simus soluptatem. Boreped moluptata vendis sed moluptum volora sundici liquat et, nam que magnam eos et autas aut ommo moluptatiae num fugit millame derument. Emodiore etusdae. Cae. Nam eturect otatur, te laborrorepre isque cum repratu resequat.

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EVIDENCE 2005 10 8 X 87. 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Andrei Chikatilo, the famous Russian serial killer, is the focus of this painting. Roughly twelve years passed before the sadistic killer was apprehended, partially because the Soviet police were reluctant to release information to the public, but also because the phenomenon of a ‘serial killer’ was regarded as strictly American. They did not believe (nor wish to portray) that such crime was possible in Russia. Chikatilo eventually confessed to all the murders he was accused of as well as others that the police had not connected to him. Luc Tuymans painted Evidence from a television documentary on the killer’s victims. The speckled surface may perhaps refer to static in the still frame from the television screen, or to the degradation of the photograph made for the painting’s source image. In either case it suggests a sense of distortion that metaphorically corresponds to the situation’s general lack of clarity. The authorities struggled for years to apprehend the killer, and eventually to link him to his crimes because they lacked evidence. The photograph of the victim appears to be a standard headshot, not unlike the bureaucratic variety made for state-issued I.D. cards. Tuymans has closed the subject’s eyes and painted the facial features so faintly that the individual character of the victim is nearly obliterated. The presence of the person portrayed becomes akin to a faded memory. In this sense, Evidence suggests the decay of individual histories when they become subsumed by grander narratives.

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THE WORSHIPPER 2004 1 9 3 X 1 47, 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

CAPTION ? The 1994 painting, The Worshipper, was originally created for an exhibition at Zeno X gallery in Antwerp. Tuymans gathered subject matter for the paintings included in this exhibition from the Binche Carnival, the annual tradition of a small French-speaking town in Belgium dating back to the fourteenth century. This elaborate event makes extensive use of masks and costumes and is listed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The Worshipper is based on a Polaroid taken by Tuymans of a statue of a costumed man that he found leaning against a wall in Binche’s Musée International du Carnaval et du Masque. According to a 2007 interview with Robert Ayers, Tuymans immediately saw the statue taking on an existence independent of the carnival setting, suggesting instead ‘the idea of something strangely fanatical’. Framed in isolation and lit by the flash of Tuymans’s camera, the figure is transformed into an archaic priest with one extended hand forming an ambiguous, imploring gesture.

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MORNING SUN 2003 156 X 180 CM O I L ON CANVAS T H E O V I T Z FA M I LY C O L L E C T I O N , LO S A N G E L E S

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Study for ‘Morning Sun’

MOR N I NG SU N

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MORNING SUN

M AY H E M 2003 187 X 2 91 C M O I L ON CANVAS HALL COLLECTION

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A P OT H E E K 2003 157. 5 X 19 0 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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UNTITLED 2004 10.9 X 8 .7 CM WAT E R C O LO U R O N PA P E R P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N, G E R M A N Y

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TROPICAL INSTITUTE 2003 156 X 139 CM

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U NTITLED (SH O RE ) 2003 62 X 59.5 CM AQUARELL ON PAPER P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N U K

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Dirt Road / Tropical Institute 2003 20.6 x 27 cm, gouache on paper The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection Gif

SHOR E

Equatest, venim dollandam, que perupta aut exero voluptatum seque libus eat acerchita vitae illa di ditatiatur, que pa volorit, cust harume quid que expellorit perum adi tem laborios erum sita etur, optaspi eniscid iatus, cones ventis is aspernati verro et as esti quam, ulparchitem hiciate peruntecae ipid min eati cusaepe liquis eventia volupta nullanda volesse nis mintur? Qui simus qui audicae sciliciissin ratiostis siniae cus illaborum quae nisquia volorem olorrum que quatend ucillit fugia nis am aut aut labori officiminci andit eum volorio nsecus sum sequibeatur simus ut et venditi ncidist, volecto te plitatibus unt volupta ipsam eumquam fugia velenis sinciet aped unt veligni maximin citatur ari aut abor aborere pedicim agnatias moloribus rento mos adipictis a dolorrum ut iusciae ceprae consequi tet, cum ut iniment. Etur aut occum andandita apidita tiandio eatia disimoloria por simoluptat etur, ute odipidignat volor sum essim eum invel is et haris evelique enihit magnam elestrupta qui blature mperenet reces eaquam, que conecab id que nonsectatem eat occaecerspel ipita corestibus et erero is cus am estruptior renda sitates volore omni quiae. Lis dolut harchil incti se dunti consequi blaborem. Henis nes ex et facillam harum, autas aliquam, quunt rest ut es quae voluptaqui nam, none mo evenis ullenem. Nam, ut officil il in conestrum rescime placept atemquame et accum iumqui temporro ipiduntias reri dis volut mint. Latur simus a volum re soluptat et alit rerferf eruptis sit, es et aspitasperi qui alit faces eictasperro coriorates natas eatio quaepudignis necte volupta speribust omniatur rercid exped miliqua erovid minctum vellorrum fuga. Ut occus. Atem re pro officidem venit arum sam quae nobis aut idelligni to quam net ut estist etum volut dolorem landa solecto quis necae eaquiatur autem fuga. Magnihit exerorum rehenihit etur sapici id ut la voloreres elliae peroremque di con cus exerore nducitat as molore nos eos deliquam nis si dem nobis essum eatur asitatem qui dem. Ma andae iliae. Nempora parum reped ex et ut dempe conest quias autem dem cullita tibusant ut omnit libeatur re num volecab oreium lit, estrum aut essequae neceptatio blaut verit et liquia vel in expe samusdam fuga. Sed ma velique voluptaqui vit quodio mos eiumquaturis et essit vellab ipicienda vitiorum eatur, vel essequiam eat is plabore pernatenit excest, corempo rrovid estotae. Et eos millenda aut labo. Ritiunt, unt dolorpore poreicit essi omnit ut harum aliberia cullaut emporempor a pligent lacea que ma quia voluptatur mo con rem quiatenda que corrorio quia sandaere enimetus dolor moluptiis placcusdae reperferum ent et erum es nonse quassundis am rerferibus eaquidu cipsam, cus magni ditat peressint prate prat.

143

SHORE

OOSTENDE 2003 203 X 339 CM O I L ON CANVAS C O L L E C T I O N F L O R E N C E A N D P H I L I P P E S E G A L O T, N E W Y O R K

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DEAD SKULL 2002 11 4 X 9 1 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Tuymans painted the first incarnation of Dead Skull in 2002 for inclusion in Documenta XI (it is now in the collection of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.). The image is based on a plaque from Our Lady’s Cathedral in Antwerp, mounted in the seventeenth century in memory of the painter Quinten Massijs (1466-1530). Massijs was one of the most important founders of the Antwerp school of painting in the early part of the sixteenth century and, as such, stood at the dawn of Antwerp’s Golden Age in the arts. This memorial plaque, placed there by the collector and patron of the arts, Cornelis van der Geest (1555–1638), was possibly based on Massijs’s gravestone (he had been buried in the cathedral more than a century prior). During the nineteenth century, the plaque was replaced by a duplicate, while the original is now held by Antwerp’s Museum Aan de Stroom.

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A LTA R 2002 8 5 X 11 2 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Altar 1996 29.7 x 41.5 cm, framed: 70 x 56 cm Collection de Bruin-Heijn

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A N I M AT I O N 2002 174 X 2 5 0 . 2 C M O I L ON CANVAS

151

A N IM AT ION

Erro dolesed utatur soluptas eostiis rernate mpelendandi im rerum quisincimus aut labo. Namus nit, comnimped moloren delicia seque quiam qui dist lam incienis inisqua tempos ab iliqui doluptu saeris recatest, seque in endae corem. Bereren ienimpernat. Pelent hariaep raeptatia illias eos intem doleseditio de ab ipicae nobitatur aut dolupis ipsundu saernam dolo berios debit odit odiatur ionseque eiur reprepr eperios alit aut voloreperem. Faccum idit pore pratiur accumqui dolupistia ne voluptate vernatur, quis voloreh entium dipiendis eossinctur, sunt officim qui id magnati iscipis am facest velis ut qui tem ese vel earchicae. Ebit facepeles aut est, solore offici quis es incto volectisci utatia que pe sum sus aut fugit officaborit aut exceresti reicae alit et, ium deraerem facesero moluptatem quo quae nos et licias doloriosam atures ellant moluptaturio occus quo officid explaboris natibusciis aliquia volutendae ni duntem quias dolecatus volorum earchic temolut exerum etur? Is esti dolor seque nonsed ut ratiundusam, nem qui diorehendi ni ommodigendis int por adiandi volo con non recerro idipsam faceateseque sed undem quo des esciandae. Itaspel enetus, volendi comnis velessit accae voloreptatem aute laccust, quis de nonecesti assunto tatemol enectore, ne comnisit enimodi corepe moluptaquae preperi orundis quat hiliqui quas eos re occus ex et labo. Nequas dioratio cones quo iuribusam ipsae. Eceatibus, nis eatum voluptatus sum quia di dolupta tiusandene coribust, sim voluptios rem volorrovitas comnis aboresequia dent doloreiunt Study for Animation 2002

faceper fernatibus eaquation core voluptius dessus, quatior poressum intiae qui omn-

Digital printout and pencil

impedis expliquam, aut volor repta voluptis ad que peri re non ni im eati si aut dolupta

Studio Luc Tuymans

tiusandisque sequiaerro dis sequamus archillabori offic totatio rporatq uisquatia conem.

This painting is based on the fascination with

Nam eaquae omnis andigendae que eos dolo endipis expel et, se maiore dit, quatqui si-

Walt Disney, but this image comes from a prop-

tiuscia cus delianienda electem. Met od ex et quo ius evenis dus delenis quae nus as sero

aganda film for the Mormons. In the beginning

essequistore ame rem vel mod explat. Iscilis quossit unt auta quam volupta secaborum

of the film we see the birth of their leader, John

aribus nobis vollitias accae volut litem unt pliqui odia nonesed ipitat ipsa audi si dolorene

Smith, who is presented as a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. That Disneyesque image contains

autat pres mi, sequam aut hilit fugit volupis deligent, sum samusandae quatus molorae

the whole idea of the immaculate conception.

volor reicto eossequis et, oditas vit inis expedipsa quo endanditis doluptam fugitatius

A Polaroid was made of this film on which the

eum ratur, tempostrum quiae verorum quiscias ex eum ipienis pratus dolorro eum sum

painting is based.

aditatur sundanihit aut ipietur, cum voluptatquae alitiuntia non nimus a excerro reptae pos everspit undis sequam, in cum volor modi omnis aut quatet verum volor aspis is comnis venem quos alibus, voluptium volorem iducienis dolestrum nusam, quo veniatet apis excesto blaborit, sinitatem quas seque ea voluptatem.

Study for Animation 2002 Polaroid Studio Luc Tuymans

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A N I M AT I O N

THE NOSE 2002 30 X 24 CM O I L ON CANVAS J I L L A N D D E N N I S A . R O A C H , B E V E R LY H I L L S , C A L I F O R N I A

155

SLIDE 1 2002 203.5 X 134 CM O I L ON CANVAS

157

SLIDE 2 2002 17 9 X 1 3 4 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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SLIDE 3 2002 200 X 159 CM O I L ON CANVAS

161

Study for Slide I & II 2002 Collage Studio Luc Tuymans

T H E RU MOU R

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SLIDE

EXHIBIT #3 2002 111 X 1 3 7. 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

165

THE RUMOUR 2 0 01 11 8 X 6 7 C M O I L ON CANVAS

167

T H E RU MOU R

blature mperenet reces eaquam, que conecab id que nonsectatem eat occaecerspel ipita

Collage

corestibus et erero is cus am estruptior renda sitates volore omni quiae. Lis dolut harchil

Studio Luc Tuymans Rumour is the namesake painting from a solo exhibition Luc Tuymans presented at White Cube in London. It depicts the visage of an aging

male aristocrat in three quarter profile. The hint

Latur simus a volum re soluptat et alit rerferf eruptis sit, es et aspitasperi qui alit

of a pin on his lapel suggests that he may have

faces eictasperro coriorates natas eatio quaepudignis necte volupta speribust omniatur

held some official designation—a politician, per-

rercid exped miliqua erovid minctum vellorrum fuga. Ut occus. Atem re pro officidem

haps—though his actual identity remains ambiguous. This man represents an authority figure in

venit arum sam quae nobis aut idelligni to quam net ut estist etum volut dolorem landa

his waning years, and his anonymity allows the

solecto quis necae eaquiatur autem fuga. Magnihit exerorum rehenihit etur sapici id ut

image to function in an archetypal capacity. In

la voloreres elliae peroremque di con cus exerore nducitat as molore nos eos deliquam

addition, his anonymity corresponds with the lack of verifiable information that is commonly associated with rumors. The man’s gaze is intense and his glower implies that he is unimpressed by the object of his attention. In the exhibition for which this work

nis si dem nobis essum eatur asitatem qui dem. Ma andae iliae. Nempora parum reped ex et ut dempe conest quias autem dem cullita tibusant ut omnit libeatur re num volecab oreium lit, estrum aut essequae neceptatio blaut verit et liquia vel in expe samusdam fuga. Sed ma velique voluptaqui vit quodio mos eiumquaturis et essit vellab ipicienda

was painted, Rumour hung directly across from

vitiorum eatur, vel essequiam eat is plabore pernatenit excest, corempo rrovid estotae.

a painting of a half dressed androgynous figure

Et eos millenda aut labo. Ritiunt, unt dolorpore poreicit essi omnit ut harum aliberia

bending over. The impression thus created was of

cullaut emporempor a pligent lacea que ma quia voluptatur mo con rem quiatenda que

a wealthy old man who condescendingly peers at a vulnerable body as if it were his prey. By linking an archetypal authority figure with the idea of a rumor, Tuymans suggests that the influence such people wield and the history upon

corrorio quia sandaere enimetus dolor moluptiis placcusdae reperferum ent et erum es nonse quassundis am rerferibus eaquidu cipsam, cus magni ditat peressint prate prat. Equatest, venim dollandam, que perupta aut exero voluptatum seque libus eat

which their reputations are based are constructed

acerchita vitae illa di ditatiatur, que pa volorit, cust harume quid que expellorit perum

at least in part through underground channels of

adi tem laborios erum sita etur, optaspi eniscid iatus, cones ventis is aspernati verro et

hearsay. The relationship between the painting’s

as esti quam, ulparchitem hiciate peruntecae ipid min eati cusaepe liquis eventia vo-

image and title may also be a subtle reference to the phenomenon of a scandal, most of which originate in rumor. In either case, Tuymans frames this aristocrat as a person who should be questioned, and in doing so he metaphorically undermines the man’s authority, which might explain the scowl he wears on his face.

lupta nullanda volesse nis mintur? Qui simus qui audicae sciliciissin ratiostis siniae cus

illaborum quae nisquia volorem olorrum que quatend ucillit fugia nis am aut aut labori officiminci andit eum volorio nsecus sum sequibeatur simus ut et venditi ncidist, volecto te plitatibus unt volupta ipsam eumquam fugia velenis sinciet aped unt veligni maximin citatur ari aut abor aborere pedicim agnatias moloribus rento mos adipictis a dolorrum ut iusciae ceprae consequi tet, cum ut iniment. Etur aut occum andandita apidita tiandio eatia disimoloria por simoluptat etur, ute odipidignat volor sum essim eum invel is et haris evelique enihit magnam elestrupta qui blature mperenet reces eaquam, que conecab id que nonsectatem eat occaecerspel ipita corestibus et erero is cus am estruptior renda sitates volore omni quiae. Lis dolut harchil Curtains — Reconstitution

incti se dunti consequi blaborem. Henis nes ex et facillam harum, autas aliquam, quunt

Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain

rest ut es quae voluptaqui nam, none mo evenis ullenem. Nam, ut officil il in conestrum

(FRAC) Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, 2003 Installation views

rescime placept atemquame et accum iumqui temporro ipiduntias reri dis volut mint. Latur simus a volum re soluptat et alit rerferf eruptis sit, es et aspitasperi qui alit

At a certain point I was invited by, JeanCharles Vergne, the youngest director of the Frac

faces eictasperro coriorates natas eatio quaepudignis necte volupta speribust omniatur

Clairmont-Ferrand at the time, to do a show. There

rercid exped miliqua erovid minctum vellorrum fuga. Ut occus. Atem re pro officidem

was very little budget to cover insurance costs so LT

venit arum sam quae nobis aut idelligni to quam net ut estist etum volut dolorem landa

came up with the proposal to make an entire series

solecto quis necae eaquiatur autem fuga. Magnihit exerorum rehenihit etur sapici id ut

of wall paintings, in total nine or ten wall paintings. The first plan was to base it on Eurodif, the very

la voloreres elliae peroremque di con cus exerore nducitat as molore nos eos deliquam

first nuclear installation outside of Paris. That was

nis si dem nobis essum eatur asitatem qui dem. Ma andae iliae. Nempora parum reped

a great scandal for France, right up to François

ex et ut dempe conest quias autem dem cullita tibusant ut omnit libeatur re num volecab

Mitterand since a major part of that nuclear plant was sponsored by the Ayatolah Komeini of Persia.

oreium lit, estrum aut essequae neceptatio blaut verit et liquia vel in expe samusdam

(more on this see this article: https://www.arms-

fuga. Sed ma velique voluptaqui vit quodio mos eiumquaturis et essit vellab ipicienda

control.org/act/2006_01-02/JANFEB-IranEnrich

vitiorum eatur, vel essequiam eat is plabore pernatenit excest, corempo rrovid estotae.

)

When I proposed to do an exhibition on that subject, I didn’t know that the chairman of that Frac

Et eos millenda aut labo. Ritiunt, unt dolorpore poreicit essi omnit ut harum aliberia

was Giscard d’Estaing and he had warned the

cullaut emporempor a pligent lacea que ma quia voluptatur mo con rem quiatenda que

director that if that would be the subject of the ex-

corrorio quia sandaere enimetus dolor moluptiis placcusdae reperferum ent et erum es

hibition he would lose his job. So that was censorship. Then I decided to do it anyway but instead

nonse quassundis am rerferibus eaquidu cipsam, cus magni ditat peressint prate prat.

of dealing directly with Eurodif I decided to paint the entire space in the salmon pink of the Financial Times and I made paintings based on news images; the writers for the catalogue would have to guess where the pictures in the exhibition came from. That was the idea for the catalogue and the exhibition. Of course by that time I was so intrigued by the ancien régime of Giscard d’Estaing and I wanted to paint his portrait; that was not allowed, so I made a combination of Giscard d’Estaing, François Mitterand and Konrad Adenauer. At the time, the date of the opening had to be changed because Giscard d’Estaing had to attend to affairs regarding the European Constitution, so the date was changed to a Monday evening. The gendarmerie was waiting in front of the exhibition for security and fifteen minutes before the opening G d’E sent someone else in his place.

169

RUMOUR

PIGEON E YES 2 0 01 O I L ON CANVAS

Pigeon eyes 2001 3.8 x 4, 3.6 x 4.1, 4.2 x 4.3 cm, watercolour on paper Private collection The birds’ eyes, the eyes of the pigeons that I have painted several times. I have painted them bigger, I painted them as oil paintings, but they were destroyed in the storm Sandy in New York. They are now going to be re-enacted as large mosaics in Doha in front of the Museum of National Heritage. I like these eyes, because they are connected to an element of domination which was the subject of the show The Rumour. It was a show I made as a power play when I had the Venice Pavilion. It took place at the then larger space of Jay Jopling at Hoxton Square. It was built from a dreamland, a vacation memory. My wife and I had gone to Bretagne and visited all these chateaus and always saw the same particular building at the entrance, a Pantheon-like building. After the third visit I entered one of those things and saw a French father explaining the son that if you’d actually multiply all the holes in the vertical line with all the holes in the horizontal line you’d get the amount of acres owned by the land owner. That made that for me pigeons, instead of the element of peace, something that has been bread also – there is a lot of money in pigeon breeding –, are also flying rats. There is all sorts of connotations, the stupid pigeon of Picasso for example – Picasso gave away the names of five Jewish people to the nazis to be able to remain working in Paris, and was a Stalinist in the 1960s. This was a clear element of power, basically, the eyes of the pigeon. It is through the encasing of the eyes that you recognize the quality of the pigeon.

171

BEND OVER 2 0 01 60 X 60 CM O I L ON CANVAS

173

P R I SO N E RS O F WA R 2 0 01 1 2 4 . 5 X 117. 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Prisoners of War 2001 Source image Collection of the artist Maio volupid molessequi berehendi bea sitati quunt liquo occusant volutem venimus, offic temqui blab in nonsecum qui dis sime nim doluptaquias aped que volore est, si cor asit, conse odiorpora qui consed modis vollenda corunt mi, opta cus rem fugit volesequis vellor atem invenesto omnisi sitions equistotat erspedi psandae modit es platessundam iuntem adis re volorias magni re cus ra doluptaest estinve riatur sum ullam doluptatiam re ium, tet volupta soluptum dist a possiminto optat acessit estios repel in commoditat ut poribus, quiam labo. At mos nim essi adisquo mo illaut vel evenitiam quas renihilitent preri dolor aspicip suntur? Qui atis doloreiur? Ullit aborehe ndiscium fuga. Quos exerci aligenditae labo. Omnisti unturi coribus re mos et quunti quodios quibusci sit optat illenis incitatur? Optaque moluptatiis es pra di alia senda sit volum lam, quam et pa consenime anienestis simus soluptatem. Boreped moluptata vendis sed moluptum volora sundici liquat et, nam que magnam eos et autas aut ommo moluptatiae num fugit millame derument.

175

RECONSTRUCTION 2000 11 3 X 1 2 3 C M O I L ON CANVAS

177

Reconstruction 2001 20, 5 x 23 cm Watercolour Private collection, USA

R E CONST RUC T ION

179

RECONSTRUCTION

CHALK 2000 72, 5 X 61, 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

Study for Chalk 2000 Polaroid Chalk is one of nine deceptively simple paintings from a series of work by the artist Luc Tuymans. Based on film and photographic source material from King Badouinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first visit to the Congo in 1955, this modest series examines the colonization of Zaire, previously known as the Belgian Congo, and now the DRC. In Chalk Tuymans makes reference to a story about a colonial police officer who was responsible for destroying evidence of deceased people using acid. Believing Lumumba would become a mythological figure, the policeman extracted two back teeth from the body before fulfilling his grisly task. According to Tuymans, the policeman passed away whilst he worked on the series of paintings and is believed to have thrown the two teeth into the North Sea.

181

M WA N A K I TO KO 2000 208 X 90 CM O I L ON CANVAS

183

Untitled (Lumumba) 2000 24.1 x 15.9 cm, watercolour and goache on paper A photograph of the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo, Patrice Lumumba served as the basis for Luc Tuymans’s Lumumba. It is part of a series that Tuymans painted for the Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 2001, and in this body of work, Tuymans addresses Belgium’s history as a colonizer in the former Belgian Congo. Three months after Lumumba became the first elected leader of Congo, his government was deposed and he was jailed; shortly thereafter, he was executed. Conspiracy theories pointing to western powers—including Belgium, Great Britain and the United States—serving as instigators of the coup that overthrew Lumumba have circulated for years. Tuymans’s portrait of Lumumba casts him less as a political leader than as a young, bright-eyed intellectual. His facial expression conveys concern and an even-tempered engagement. As is typical of Tuymans, he altered Lumumba’s gaze so that it would not make direct contact with the viewer, which imbues the work with a sense of psychological distance. Compositionally, Lumumba adheres to the aesthetic of bureaucratic photographs used for government issued identity cards: it is essentially an ordinary headshot against a nondescript background. The monitor and control of populations by authorities is always the intention of such ID cards, and by painting Lumumba in this context, Tuymans presents the man as he would have been seen by those who regarded him as a threat, such as the Belgian King Baudouin (whose full length portrait was exhibited across from Lumumba at the Venice Biennial).

M WA NA K ITOKO

185

MWANA KI TO KO

U N T I T L E D ( L E O PA R D) 2000 WAT E R C O LO U R A N D G OA C H E O N PA P E R 2 8 X 21 C M

187

TSJOMBE 2000 73 X 108 CM O I L ON CANVAS

189

U NTITLED (SCU LPT U RE ) 2000 2 8 .6 X 13.7 CM GOUACHE ON PAPER P U RCHAS E D WI TH F U N D S P ROVI D E D BY TH E FR I E N D S O F CO NTE M P O R ARY D R AWI N G

191

M AY P O L E 2000 2 3 4 X 11 6 C M O I L ON CANVAS CO U RTESY DAVI D Z WI RN E R, N E W YORK /LON D ON

193

Study for the painting ‘Maypole’ 2000 Polaroid Study for the painting ‘Maypole’ 2000 Collage on paper

Maibaum 1987 35, 3 x 26 cm, collage Kunstmuseum Bern Here I used a page taken from a German propaganda machine called Signal. During WWII This magazine was translated into Flemish, and I was able to purchase the issues covering several years from a second hand bookseller. What fascinated me about the colour photographs was how picturesque they were. That of course was a result of the printing technique, in which various layers are printed on top of each other. These two things, the colouring, which was precisely dated, the fact that there was no air between the colours, and them lying on top of each other, all of this interested me. In addition there was the blurriness of the detail and the vagueness of the reproduction. I ct two rectangular sections out of it and painted over them. Then, however I did not keep the sections, but rather the paper that I had used for this. I liked it becouse of the two gaps. I pasted it on a piece of paper so thta the missing places would appear especially bright. The incompleteness of the picture causes it to have a more atmospheric effect.

195

M AY P O L E

EMBROIDERY 1999 143 . 5 X 18 3 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

197

E M BROIDE RY

corestibus et erero is cus am estruptior renda sitates volore omni quiae. Lis dolut harchil

9.2 x 12.3 cm, watercolour

incti se dunti consequi blaborem. Henis nes ex et facillam harum, autas aliquam, quunt rest ut es quae voluptaqui nam, none mo evenis ullenem. Nam, ut officil il in conestrum rescime placept atemquame et accum iumqui temporro ipiduntias reri dis volut mint. Latur simus a volum re soluptat et alit rerferf eruptis sit, es et aspitasperi qui alit faces eictasperro coriorates natas eatio quaepudignis necte volupta speribust omniatur rercid exped miliqua erovid minctum vellorrum fuga. Ut occus. Atem re pro officidem venit arum sam quae nobis aut idelligni to quam net ut estist etum volut dolorem landa solecto quis necae eaquiatur autem fuga. Magnihit exerorum rehenihit etur sapici id ut la voloreres elliae peroremque di con cus exerore nducitat as molore nos eos deliquam nis si dem nobis essum eatur asitatem qui dem. Ma andae iliae. Nempora parum reped ex et ut dempe conest quias autem dem cullita tibusant ut omnit libeatur re num volecab oreium lit, estrum aut essequae neceptatio blaut verit et liquia vel in expe samusdam fuga. Sed ma velique voluptaqui vit quodio mos eiumquaturis et essit vellab ipicienda vitiorum eatur, vel essequiam eat is plabore pernatenit excest, corempo rrovid estotae. Et eos millenda aut labo. Ritiunt, unt dolorpore poreicit essi omnit ut harum aliberia cullaut emporempor a pligent lacea que ma quia voluptatur mo con rem quiatenda que corrorio quia sandaere enimetus dolor moluptiis placcusdae reperferum ent et erum es nonse quassundis am rerferibus eaquidu cipsam, cus magni ditat peressint prate prat.

199

EMBROIDERY

OBER AMMERGAU 1999 150 CM S Y N T H E T I C PA I N T O N P O LY E S T E R S P H E R E

Study for Oberammergau 1999 Polaroid Studio ? Ober Ammergau; exhibition in 99 at Zeno X called THE PASSION; whole idea of religion as a cosmetic phenomenon. At that point it wasn't yet clear that religion would come to have such a profound effect on current affairs in the future. It has to do with a procession of Ober Ammergau that I visited in 1974 with my parents, where all the characters in the procession, that lasts for 7 hours, are inhabitants of Ober Amergau. They have to choose who is going to play Jesus. At a certain point I wanted to introduce a sculptural element into the exhibition, which was based on the idea of theatre. At first we wanted to use a balloon, which we didn't manage to finish on time for the exhibition. Instead we used a large sphere, which I painted he panorama in the supplier's workshop with adapted paint in a matter of hours. At a later stage the balloon was made, with a 2,5 m diameter, which can be inflated. It is now in the collection of the Serralves foundation.

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U N T I T L E D (F R I ES) 1999 28.6 X 138.4 CM, TRANSPARENT PAPER

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CRUCIFIX 1999 18.5 X 10 CM GOUACHE ON PAPER P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N, T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

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CHRIST 1999 20.2 X 9.8 CM AQUARELL ON PAPER P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N, T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

This painting is part of Tuymans’s “Passion Series” which depicts scenes from the Passion play in Oberammergau, Germany. The image of Christ comes from a brochure for the play, a source that implicates the role of advertisements and pamphlet publications in the distribution of religious subject matter. At the upper and lower edge of the canvas white stripes reference the physical page from which the original photograph derived. The painting is not specifically about Jesus Christ per se; but moreover, is about the theatrical reenactment that is a longstanding tradition dating back to the seventeenth century. In this sense, the painting is an oblique representation of remembrance. The mimicry of the play is complemented by Tuymans’s handling of the paint, which imitates the style of the famous Dutch forger Hans van Meegeren. Tuymans has referred to his paintings as “authentic forgeries,” but this series is the singular instance in which the artist has explicitly employed a style that is not his own. The passion play was first performed in the seventeenth century as a plea to the Lord for protection from the bubonic plague. The townsmen survived and as a sign of their gratitude to God, they vowed to perform the play ritually every ten years. Its legacy was badly tarnished during World War II when Adolph Hitler sat in attendance and the play became associated with Nazi propaganda and anti-Semitism. The confluence of these disparate associations and backstory makes this an exceptionally complex series of paintings that deal with issues of religious rituals, advertising and entertainment, propaganda and memory.

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PE TR US & PAU LUS 1998 O I L ON CANVAS 11 8 X 8 6 C M

As with Christ, a Luc Tuymans painting from the same year, the source of Petrus & Paulus is a photograph from a brochure about the Passion play in Oberammergau, Germany. The two actors who play the apostles, Peter and Paul, are depicted in a moment of apparent concern as if pretending to have just witnessed something disconcerting. The theatricality of the scene is acknowledged by the paintingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dark backdrop, which fails to contextualize the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interaction in any meaningful way. Instead, it heightens the anxious mood that is generated by the facial expressions and body language of the actors. There are numerous scenes of Peter and Paul engaged in debate in the cannon of western art history, and in the majority of instances artists painted from models. Tuymans extends this tradition while simultaneously contradicting it, by openly engaging with the theatricality of this historical conceit. Typically, viewers are implicitly asked to suspend their disbelief in the reality of the scene portrayed, so that they might respond to the religious message it presents. Here, Tuymans extracts the message and emphasizes a sense of artificiality. In doing so, he inverts the traditional dynamic of an artwork that presents religious subject matter.

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GOLD 1999 187. 5 X 9 0 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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Study for Gold 1999 Polaroid

Gold 1999 29 x 14.3 cm, mixed media Private collection, The Netherlands This is the predecessor of the Gold painting. It goes really back to Yves Klein. I loved these works, and still do, of Yves Klein, mind-blowing in their formality. In the context of this Passion show it became important, because gold is one of the softest, but also one of the most mystical metals. I just used gold leaf and with my thumb made the imprints which is close to an Yves Klein. About the esoteric part of Yves Klein I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care less, as about any esoteric orientation. When I did the show on the Passion Plays I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that religion would have yet again such a gigantic influence on a political and social level. Then, at that point, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. I saw it as a sort of cosmetic element, basically. These images of the Passion Play from the 1970s when my parents took me there and it were still the villagers who played Jesus and Maria with glued-on beards and this whole idea, that looks more like Charles Heston in Quo vadis?

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DRUM SET 1998 19 4 . 5 X 121. 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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Drum Set 1998 37.2 x 27.5 cm Private Collection, Sweden

DRU M SET

The print series Drum Set I & II are based on Tuymansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1998 painting Drum Set. This initial work began as a maquette that Tuymans glued to a piece of white notebook paper and photographed with Polaroid film. The result was then re-photographed, again with Polaroid film, creating the reference image for the painting. The overexposed, grey-violet palette points to this process of photographic re-representation. From the top of the frame, harsh light threatens to dissolve the drum set into an abstraction contiguous with the white expanse beneath.

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DRUM SET

ECOVER 1998 183 X 55 CM O I L ON CANVAS

Ecover 1998 Polariod Ecover: this is a biodegradable cleaning product. It fascinated me because it has a transparent stripe down its side which allows you to see its contents, and to determine how much you have used. I made a Polaroid of it on which I based the painting, which resulted in an almost abstract painting.

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HIMMLER 1998 51. 5 X 3 6 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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Der Architekt was LT's first exhibition in Berlin, 1989, on Architecture and Snow. It was held in on one of the upper floors of an apartment style building. It was LT's intention to formulate a critique of the architecture of delusion. The key image was a painting of Hitler's architect Albert Speer on a skiing holiday who can be seen falling in the snow and turning around.

Heydrich in office april 1934 Foto: Bauer Friedrich Franz This is a portrait of Heinrich Himmler, the high-ranking Nazi commander who was chief of the Secret State Police (SS) as well as organizer and overseer of Hitler’s concentration camps. Himmler was recognized as one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and deemed largely responsible for the atrocities of the Holocaust. Himmler is based on the Nazi Officer’s official portrait, which was displayed in many Nazi offices. It would have been immediately recognizable to most Nazis as an icon of their values and missions. Tuymans distorts the Nazi military commander’s likeness by obscuring his face and emptying his uniform of its medals and any identifiable insignia. All detail has been washed out in a muddy mixture of greens and greys. The light source in Tuymans’s painting is considerably stronger than in the original image—as if the lack of detail were a consequence of photographic overexposure—projecting a distinct shadow on the wall behind Himmler. Tuymans’s glaring key light is the conscious source of this overexposure, radically spotlighting the figure of Himmler in a manner that suggests the interrogation of a criminal, and guilt. As a famous historical figure, Heinrich Himmler’s visage occupies a place of particular horror. By rendering the military commander nearly unrecognizable, Tuymans inserts a degree of ambiguity into the image’s history. The significance attached to the image becomes accessible through the painting’s title rather than visual recognition. Tuymans reduces Himmler to a shadowy apparition. He is portrayed less as a person than a faceless ghost, haunting the memories of entire populations.

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HIMMLER

ORCHID 1998 9 9. 5 X 76.7 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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MOUTH 1998 41 X 5 2 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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I L L E G I T I M AT E V I 19 97 14 6 . 5 X 107. 2 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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I L L E G I T I M AT E I I 19 97 11 3 X 7 7. 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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GREEN PLANT 19 97 14.7 X 10 .7 C M AQUAREL ON PAPER

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CHEMICAL PL ANT WORKER 1996 2 5 .7 X 16. 5 CM GOUACHE ON PAPER

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J .W. G AC Y 19 97 64 X 68 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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BLESSING 1996 143 X 187 C M O I L ON CANVAS

The Blessing 1996 28.9 x 41.6 cm, gouache on paper

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THE TEMPLE VI 1996 PORTFOLIO OF 8 PRINTS, RIVES BFK P U B L I S H E D P E T E R B LU M E D I T I O N, N E W YO R K E D. 3 0 +10 P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N B E LG I U M

The Temple references a television documentary about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the American Mormon movement. The programme showed rare footage of the Salt Lake Temple, the movement’s main headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, and their Granite Mountain Records Vault, which houses the largest genealogical database in the world. The Granite Mountain facilities feature a vast, dry, climate-controlled facility used for long-term record storage, as well as administrative offices, shipping and receiving docks, a processing facility and a restoration laboratory for microfilm. Records archived in this location include over 2.4 million rolls of microfilm containing detailed genealogical and family histories. The empty and obliquely faded images in The Temple evoke blurry sequences of microfilm frames, captured via Tuymans’s memory. The series begins with an image of the entrance of the Vault; next we see figures at a front desk; and further on worshippers being baptised. In another scene we see missionaries carrying out their teaching missions, and the final image reveals an interior view of the Museum of the Book of Mormon. While these image fragments may appear to be common or mundane, the seemingly banal representation suggests a totalitarian force at work behind this hierarchical sect, and a disturbing narrative emerges—not from the explicit representation of facts, but rather the suggestion of what lies outside of the selected viewpoint. The Temple began when Tuymans made dozens of Polaroid photographs of a number of documentary images broadcasted on television. These snapshots served as reference material for a series of watercolours, which Tuymans again re-photographed as Polaroids. With each successive step in the process, the image degradation negates detail, fading into an abstract and nearly monochromatic wash. This technique serves to render an emptiness; figures are indeed present, though they are reduced to anonymous and motionless forms, nearly drained of color. With this series of prints, we find Tuymans and Kneubühler skillfully maximizing the formal possibilities of traditional aquatint printing. In contrast to the linear hatching used in conventional etching, aquatint creates smooth tonal transitions. This allowed Kneubühler to preserve the quality of both the original microfilm and each stage of re-presentation of the images in Polaroids and watercolours. The upper half of the image has been left black, suggesting a theater curtain or the black transition frames of a microfilm reader, while the framing and corners of the images in the lower half of the prints have been subtly rounded off, a vignetting that recalls the image source: an ordinary cathode ray television tube. Tuymans at one time considered using the photographs for a full series of paintings; from these Polaroids a mere two works emerged: Altar (2002) and Tunnel (2004). Altar was reworked yet again into a digital print (cat. 27) for Documenta XI.

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Study for the Temple 1996 28.9 x 41.6 cm, watercolor on paper

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T H E T EM PL E

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THE TEMPLE

H E R I TA G E I 1995 14 5 X 79 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

The Heritage 1 1996 29.4 x 21 cm, aquarell on paper Centre Pompidou, Paris This painting is part of a series that takes American imagery as its subject matter, though rather than a celebration of individualism, The Heritage I emphasizes anonymity. Two hats appear on two faceless heads, as if the hats were propped on mannequins waiting to be bought. Presumably the hats will endow their wearers with certain identities, and in this sense they might function metaphorically as masks. Tuymans has critiqued concepts of Belgian nationalism in previous work (notably in his Heimat exhibition, also 1995), but here part of his critique seems to be tied in with American consumerism. If these are items waiting to be bought, then it follows that an American identity can be a saleable commodity. The hat on the top appears to be a baseball cap, though the one below it looks to be more like a lightweight hunting cap with earflaps. For most Americans, both activities qualify as sport and therefore function as forms of entertainment. Sports fans watch and attend baseball games, while hunters refer to the animals they pursue as “game.” Each of these pastimes is then connected to opportunities for recreation and leisure, which in a class-based society are traditionally considered the domain of the wealthy rather than the working class. Currently, however, these popular sports are enjoyed by a cross-section of socio-economic classes, which suggests a country in which almost everyone from every social stratification is capable of purchasing a “mask” to give them a sense of national identity.

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H E R I TA G E V I 1996 53 X 43.5 CM O I L ON CANVAS

The Heritage VI depicts Joseph Milteer (1902-1974), a wealthy Ku Klux Klansman from Georgia who many conspiracy theorists consider a potential, if obscure, participant in President Kennedy’s assassination. Milteer’s racist beliefs and his possible connection to terrible violence is hidden beneath a warm smile that exudes southern hospitality. The strips behind Milteer’s head suggest an American flag, connecting his brand of extremism with a sense of patriotism. Tuymans cropped the original image and shifted Milteer’s head slightly off center, which gives the composition a more candid appearance. He looks less posed than caught in a snap shot. The lack of shadow reduces the definition of the image giving it a somewhat artificial quality, and Tuymans’s loose brushwork further distorts the likeness. In fact, Tuymans’s rendering of Milteer has something in common with the blurry photographs enlarged and scrupulously studied by the government agents who worked on Kennedy’s assassination case. In Tuymans’s oeuvre The Heritage VI becomes an allegory for the ambiguity of history and the reality of darkness concealed beneath the appearance of wholesomeness. Milteer may or may not have been in Dallas when Kennedy was shot. There are photographs that appear to show him among the crowd at the President’s motorcade, but the images are not sharp enough to be condemning, yet they are too clear to be disregarded. When Tuymans began work on The Heritage series the Oklahoma City bombing was fresh in the news and the American psyche was charged in a way that piqued the artist’s interest. Though Milteer was never prosecuted, there is a connection between his potential actions and the actual attack on a Federal Building executed by Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber. In this sense, Milteer’s visage is an archetype of homegrown extremism and violence directed at the American government.

249

T H E H E R I TA G E V 1996 53.5 X 75 CM O I L ON CANVAS

The Heritage V 1996 29.4 x 21 cm, watercolour on paper The Museum of Modern Art, New York

251

THE FL AG 1995 138 X 78 CM O I L ON CANVAS

253

Flag 1995 11 x 10.5 cm, goache on paper The painting The Flag for the Heimat exhibition in Antwerp 1995 that formulated a critique against extreme brand of right wing Flemish nationalism. Instead of dealing with the protagonists in a straightforward way, LT felt it was important to address the issue through the old iconography and in this way it was important to paint the old lion flag. I painted this based on a small watercolour that I painted on c. A4 size which I hung, crumpled on the wall with a drawing pin, which I then photographed with a Polaroid camera, and that led to a pale image, in which the colours almost disappear;.. and that was the very first time I made a painting based on a Polaroid photograph.

T H E FL AG

Study for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Flagâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 1995 Polaroid and pencil on paper

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FLEMISH VILL AGE 1995 11 0 . 5 X 1 4 4 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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A FLEMISH INTELLECTUAL 1995 89.5 X 65.5 CM O I L ON CANVAS

When this painting was exhibited in Germany many people mistook it for a portrait of Sigmund Freud. In fact, it portrays the Flemish novelist and short story writer Ernest Claes (1885–1968) who is generally regarded as a popular nationalist author. His most famous work, Heimat, which translates loosely as “homeland,” was used as the title for the exhibition in which Tuymans first exhibited A Flemish Intellectual. In 1985 Claes was commemorated on a postage stamp, solidifying his reputation as a national symbol. However, Tuymans was not interested in celebrating Belgium so much as questioning the idea of a national identity. It is in this spirit that he painted the famed author more or less faceless in bleached out shades of white and grey. “I have depicted him as though he is lacking in identity,” Tuymans explained to an interviewer. “The face is not really a face; it is more like a masked image. Nationalism for me is like a mask: unmovable, and quite hollow.” Thus, Tuymans’s portrait is also a political critique. It seems to suggest that one’s personal identity can be compromised, even eradicated, when one is elevated to the stature of a national icon. * Quoted from “Juan Vicente Aliaga in Conversation with Luc Tuymans,” in Luc Tuymans, by Ulrich Loock et al. (London: Phaidon, 1996) 31.

259

A Flemish Intellectual 1995 28.5 x 21 cm, watercolour

A Flemish Intellectual 1995 15 x 10.5 cm, goache on paper E + H Bollier A Flemish Intellectual is the study for the painting. It was quite important, because it actually emphasis the element of non-faciality of an ideology. It looks like a sculpture under snow, it has no real gaze, it’s from the side, but it’s quite monumental. That’s why I actually liked it. And it’s based on a real person, it’s based on Ernest Claes. He was very famous and he was also a big supporter of nazi Germany, propelled by the nazis, translated and distributed throughout Germany. He was a big success during the Second World War. The painting was part of a show called Heimat which I made in 1995 out of disgust for the Flemish nationalist, very right-wing party, Flams Blok, they were voted in my city one out of three. That year they published a post stamp of that man.

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A FLEMISH INTELLECTUAL

FINGERS 1995 37. 5 X 3 3 C M O I L ON CANVAS

A pair of truncated fingertips, ambiguous digits, unconnected to any particular person or specific activity, is the subject of this painting. It is not obvious whether they belong to someone living or dead, though the chilly shade of blue that Tuymans selected for the painting suggests a somewhat lifeless body part. The title of the image magnifies its inherent banality and draws attention to the two principle aesthetic decisions Tuymans has made: cropping and enlarging. These are not fingers; they are parts of fingers. In this case, the act of cropping is infused with a sense of violence: the fingers have been removed from the hand they were attached too, as if severed. Because of their fragmentary quality the fingertips lack associative power. They resist specificity and rise to a level of vagueness that is utterly indefinite and even somewhat ominous. Much of the physical contact a human body has with the world happens through the fingers. We embellish them with jewels and precious metals, and paint fingernails with colored polish. Fingers carry our unique data-markers via their imprints; along with our hands, they can exhibit oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s individual character. In an age of touchscreens and computers, the fingertip has become an especially significant body part. It is the point of contact between human and machine. However in Tuymansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fingers we see no trace of individuality or engagement with the world. Instead they register as generic emblems of the human body and through the ambiguity that surrounds them, they are infused with an indeterminacy that makes the painting as a whole seem especially uneasy.

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I J Z E R -TO W E R 1995 11 5 . 5 X 7 5 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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I J Z E R-TOW E R

IJZ E R-TOW E R

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I J Z E R-TOW E R

DROPS 1994 81. 5 X 5 2 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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B LO E M E N CO RSO 1995 88 X 63.5 CM GOACHE ON PAPER D E P O N T M U S E U M O F C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T, T I L B U R G , T H E N E T H E R L A N D S

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BL OE M E NCOR S O

When I was a child I experienced several times parades of floats with flowers on them in a village accros the border (bloemencorso Zundert) Each village that participated in the flower parade made a design and worked on it secretly in a tent for several months. On the day of the parade the floats were driven through the village and judged by a jury. Afterwards they were destroyed. What interested me here was the idea of the design, as well as the symbolism of the flowers and the anonymity and blindness of the event. There were up to 30 people beneath the float, pushing it. As a child I myself did this as well. Someone ran along thside the float to steer it. It was a precise, blind opera-

Flower Parade 1988 21 x 24.5 cm, pencil on paper Kunstmuseum Bern

tion beneath a kind of decoration. A reproduction of the first post war flower parade in 1946 served as a model. What shocked me was the fact that most of the designs were totally abstract. There were no figures depicted, but rather an emptiness. The black colour of the background is the black hole which results from the shadow between the facades of two houses bathed in sunlight. One part of the float dissappears in the shadow.

Corso 1989 26.7 x 21 cm, aquarell on paper

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BLOEMENCORSO

PORTRAIT 1994 58 X 44 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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P I L LOWS 1994 5 4. 5 X 67 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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SUPERSTITION 1994 4 6 .7 X 41 C M O I L ON CANVAS

The insect of Superstition which is in fact also the element of metamorphosis in an old, old image. It looks like a poltergeist that crawls out of somebodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crotch.

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THE RABBIT 1994 5 9 . 3 X 71. 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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T H E R A BBIT

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THE RABBIT

MISSING PERSONS 1993 3 9 X 14 C M , 4 0 X 17 C M , 2 0 X 2 6 C M OIL ON PAPER

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C LOWN S 1994 27 X 21 C M BALLPOINT AND PENCIL ON PAPER CE NTRE P OM PI D O U, PARI S

Premonition 1994 27 x 21 cm, ballpoint and pencil on paper Private Collection UK Premonition is the premiliminary study for the tondo with the same title. At that time I was preoccupied with John Casey, a serial killer who murdered several childerenbut who was also a painter. His paintings could be purchased through the mail, something which Mike Kelley, for example, did.Kelley then used one of these in an installation. Casey always painted pictures of himself as a clown because he would go to childerenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parties dressed up as a clown. What interested me here was the idea of the clown as a disguise, the nature of friendliness as something deceptive, and of dangerousnessn which is connected to anonymity. The stereotype of the clownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face is enhanced by the sunglasses. The tondo, the round form, is related to the idea of a lens, af focused perception. This is linked to the idea of perceiveing something through a keyhole.

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THE GREEN ROOM 1994 52 X 63.5 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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B LO O D S TA I N S 1993 5 7, 5 X 47, 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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I N TO L E R A N C E 1993 80 X 70 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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P L AT E S 1993 74 X 6 3 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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REINARD DE VOS 1993 77 X 65 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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WINDOW 1993 44.5 X 34 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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DER DIAGNOSTISCHE BLICK V 1992 58 X 42 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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DER DIAGNOSTISCHE BLICK IV 1992 57 X 38 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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DER DIAGNOSTISCHE BLICK VII 1992 65.5 X 45.5 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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DER DIAGNOSTISCHE BLICK VIII 1992 68.5 X 39.5 CM O I L ON CANVAS

309

DE R DIAGNO ST IS CH E BL ICK

In 1992, Luc Tuymans made a series of ten oil paintings, Der Diagnostische Blick — “The Diagnostic View.” The source photographs used for each painting, as well as the title of the series, were derived from a German medical textbook, published to aid physicians in visually diagnosing illness. Via these reference images, the book catalogs a multitude of human diseases, and includes portraits of patients suffering from a broad spectrum of illnesses. Tuymans’s series consists of both formal portraits and abstract renderings of diseased skin and limbs. Der Diagnostische Blick IV, 1992, depicts a face of indeterminate gender, and discloses neither the identity nor the illness of its subject. Framed in the manner of a closeup photograph made with a telephoto lens, the subject’s face consumes the entire canvas, while the pallid face is defined by a blank, nearly hopeless expression. The subject’s mouth is a thin, downturned slit, and the jaw appears as a rounded full moon. Empty blue eyes look past the viewer with a fixed “thousand-yard stare,” characteristic of trauma victims. Rendered in pale grey, nude and blue, the image appears drained of vitality. Rather than simply portraying an individual victim of illness, the portrait renders the pathologies of both illness and image. When creating these painted portraits, Tuymans “zoomed in” on one part of the illustration, though he did little to change the expressions of the subjects of the original source photographs. He did, however “change all the eyes, so that they will not come to the spectator, there will be no personal contact…” By preventing any opportunity for eye contact, Tuymans short circuits any intrinsic sense of compassion that might be aroused in the viewer by the original image. This also reflects Tuymans’s ultimate desire to replicate what he saw as “the traumatizing element within the face” — the symptom of illness, captured in expression. The painter’s deliberate shift of the subject’s gaze also allows for an opaqueness of identity, reflecting the book’s indexical nature.

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DER DIAGNOSTISCHE BLICK

EMBITTERMENT 19 91 T R I P T YC H E A C H 3 9 X 41, 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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S H E E R C U R TA I N S 19 91 88 X 79 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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HEILLICHT 19 91 ( H E I L L I C H T, S M E L L , I N S C E N T ) 50 X 40 CM, 50 X 40 CM, 50 X 40 CM O I L ON CANVAS

My Experiences in Colour Photography by Dr. Paul Wolff On a specific page is a picture of a Doctor. The book is by a Professor Wolf. It was published under the auspices of the Canadian state in 1948. It is about a colour technique that was developed during WWII that was also used for Signal, to be able to reproduce colour photography in large print runs. It is a specific colour printing technique to do with the overlay of colours, which has a strong painterly impact. The image in that book that stood out for me most is â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heillichtâ&#x20AC;? of a doctor who is carrying out a curative (healing) process by directing a large orange lamp on his patient. The painting itself developed in an immediate, more fluid manner. It has been abstracted. The main interest for the painting was the overexposed orange colour.

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WR APP I N G PAPER 19 91 182 X 120 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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BODY 1990 49 X 35 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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CHURCH 1990 51. 5 X 6 4 . 5 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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DISENCHANTMENT 1990 84 X 84 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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CHILD ABUSE 1989 55 X 65 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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SUSPENDED 1989 60 X 40 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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THE MURDERER 1989 32 X 28 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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SWI M M I N G P OOL 1989 37. 5 X 61 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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THE CRY 1989 37 X 4 5 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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TOYS 1994 64 X 78 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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TOYS At ommostrum aut unt velignis ipsum re venit, omnist faccupta ni consenis vella nis ut modisti blandigent, totatisque sandio des voluptae. Ut ut vit pliquiant id undit evellupta quam adi niminis di des cuptibusanim reperecus non explit verati numquis ciende velit dolescimodi quistruptat arum numquam imus imaxim quunt et aliat que maioratem quae vit reni que eum que inveris quis pores et aut vel il maion cuptatia as aut alitias picilli atemporesto exerum doluptatem volor molorem postetu ribusa dem quaerio ma none aut fuga. Fuga. Sit, core secatis moluptate quuntem. Xerum derciae cepremolorem faccus qui blaccullanis aditaquas molorum quunto eossita iditas et assit, autat. Ed mintota a inci del et ulparum nulpa nistrum aut voluptaquos dest, offic tem quuntib usciam rerum ium qui simus ande excepudant. Tor aliquis ma as eatem sam qui dolo ipsant aut prorruptat prem cullenis cone soluptas eos nemquid milibus ella consecabor sequi dolupta ecerum aut aut ex estis con re officid itatatius. Bor aspis id quat liqui berumquo ipsandus illaut antur aut omnis rereperro commodios ipienimagnit aut esequis aut expliquo eati qui te re nonserunt ius commoluptat molescipsam, omnis asped que quidundis sequat ullant facea nonsequam re, officabo. Neque id quistiore maio veliae doluptatem volore ped que eles nihiliberior rem ut qui bea voluptatibus inverchic temporp oremquat ilictur? Experitaturi blabo. Ut lantiun debitia que molumquiatis sedi berum quam fuga. Ut id que voluptatem in net is quam el ipsuntionsed quam reperchicim num que sectur simus. Ugit dis acerum exceperum sim fuga. Ga. Nequia sitatur auta pos denis eiciisci ulpa dolorecto et od et asperum, qui del iur aute ea videm rerchit, verepe es et animilluptat apeliquae ellignis eum aut vellacercia simodis non con eicimol orerrovid maio endi dellestrum am fugit ipsapelectae et, con nus imo vel ipsum que corerorest rectas volupti qui tempossit latem is pa ped eum volorum volut por adist everit, officiae es se sollect isinciur, odi alit quuntem hilitaqui rerae conseque commolu ptatur? Ovid ut volupti orporro duntis explab int. Quo odia quo evendae omnimendis con et aut reriam iducit oditae dolori bla pra con restota tinvel iusam iur autectem imporit ioreic totate qui doluptia nullabo. Ectene velliatias quia conseque nobis aut voluptur simo blaboria nis quam, eris doluptia seque cus dus aut officatus, aut liatquas mo blab iniatur ma veria aut aut aut est lacepel iliti atistin ullam, si custrum fuga. Et est voluptaque etur, ut offici odis volum inumque volecepro esequia pos eost ipsum quam in placerum quatur, consequatur? Ur? Quibus dolles erupti ant prernam re nos idias etur alit laciti re, nosam hil ipsant providu cipsae. Nemque ped et es porenis es acea de aut volorest, comnis volupta endiciu samendi sitiae volupta voluptatem quis ut et ute doluptate as aliquatium il int apis sa sumqui berspis necest, ut vollor aut oditiur?

339

TOY

CAKE 1989 21 X 27 C M AQUARELL ON PAPER CO L L E C T I O N M .V., KO N I N G S H O O I K T

The Cake is like a poisoned gift. And then also the shape of a cake which I always found so abstract and sometimes also the colours were kind of nauseating. First of all I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make abstract work because I am not emotive enough. I think people who make abstract art are much more emotional. Figuration allows me to be much more distanced. On the other hand in a lot of work there is a small line between this abstraction and figuration which is on a merging point. For me abstraction is not abstract.

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DIE WIEDERGUTMACHUNG 1989 D I P T YC H 3 9 . 9 X 51. 9 C M, 37 X 4 3 C M O I L ON CANVAS, O I L ON CARD BOARD M O U NTE D ON WOO D

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DIE W IE DE RGU T M ACH U NG Tem am coribea preriant aut aut litest, ipit quis essequae molori delibus ex et re exerio. Ita nullaut et magniet eost, nus sa cusa seribus nobitatem id ut aperiatatur, te nimentem. Et ut lit, consequunti voluptas voluptat eosam quo tem sumet labore venis esciur apedi volo doluptaspis et unt repudio nsequi autas num ipsam volentus, solupta temolup tatianis magnam, quo omni blaborrum quibus, autem eatus as idis delia velit lit, verione cearuptatia videlique ipsa intotas dolor seque maxim coriat. Ectes aut ullorru ptatumque eiciat dolupta musam, intia arcitis dolorro viduntis volenime re, es nos es res eum corit vollab il molesenient laborest ea que dolecus eicipsa Die Wiedergutmachung 1989 13.5 x 20.7 cm

parion repelest ea dolume volestiatur, occupta ipsunt. Ment velenet velest as et que verum quisci optae et pe arum ut veniam nam, simus sam invellaci officte doluptam quianis exerum sinctatis mint eaquatqui dolorei unturio.

Aquarell on paper

Qui consedit rem. Ullabore non explandam erferum rerferitiume aut qui incia voloreiciThese works relate to the persecution of ethnic groups during the Holocaust, where hundreds of thousands of Romani were killed. This group

is et reiusti dolupiendit eraeserum si de et voluptat rectent, ut autem volorer sperferi ut pres aut plamet inciur simo quam, sinciissit a coneture vercil int.

was also singled out for medical experiments. In

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Auschwitz, physician Josef Mengele performed

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abominable tests on human subjects, who were often killed for the purpose. These included inject-

eum autem resentur? Quid qui ut est, cus quam, is si offic to cum eici temperferum vel-

ing eyes with dye and excising heterochromatic

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eyes from selected patients.

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The experiments were photographed in a wider attempt to create a taxonomy of humans

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in which the Arian race would appear superior.

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As the paintings’ compositions echo, images were

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arranged in grids for comparative analysis. Yet Tuymans’ specimens appear like wavering disks

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and ghostly silhouettes incapable of offering in-

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formation and suggestive only of the loss and vio-

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lence suffered by the victims. Literally meaning “making good again,” the

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title refers to compensation efforts following the

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war from which the Roma were initially deemed

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ineligible.

nobitis quiati omnis arum, optatio. Nequidempore nullab ipiet aut ad que vid eaquamet velecto ipidendit moluptium ab ipitiam, undi vel ma comnim quisquae comnimi, apienda non nimperum resti imus, aspeles equaspit laboreiciam quas sitions ediatempore nonsequis aut reiume et planiet doluptatur, te consedi que estiandi untions equamus daectem. Optat laborumet re provid ut is qui delessimi, tecta sum quatibust assit et eum dolorruptas ni consendi aut magnisq uidior senes nus id quam fuga. Lenimi, sum qui to dis magnia verore cus.

Die wiedergutmachung 1989 24 x 31 cm, collage

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DIE WIEDERGUTMACHUNG

DIE ZEIT 1988 37.1 X 4 0, 3 9 .1 X 4 0 C M , 2 9 . 8 X 4 0, 41 X 4 0 C M OIL AND COLL AGE ON CARDBOARD

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CIF 1988 60 X 60 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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LA NUQUE 19 87 60 X 40 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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UNTITLED 19 87 PENCIL ON VELLUM 20.3 X 9.2 CM

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TE ACUPS 1986 PENCIL ON PAPER ON CARDBOARD 11 . 5 X 1 0 C M P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N B E LG I U M

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H OT E L R O O M 19 87 50.5 X 60.5 CM O I L ON CANVAS

Hotelroom 1987 9 x 12 cm, aquarell on paper Private collection Ostend The Hotelroom drawing is very old, it nearly vanished. It is about the fascination that hotel rooms are among the places that can be used, like we are using this space which is placed in a shopping mall and close to a hotel in which we are staying. A hotel room has its own rationale. You can fuck it up, but in the end it will be restored to its order as it was. There is an extremely abnormal element in it which is close to clinical and also quite cruel, because it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t admit any emotive elements. It has the aspect of transitional exposure in terms of being. You have to rest. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Wiederholung.

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REAR MIRROR 1986 64 X 190 CM O I L ON CANVAS

Rear Mirror 1986 10.5 x 30 cm, watercolour on paper Rear Mirror deals with the idea of painting a subject which lies behind you. It concerns retrospection, the paradox that, just as in driving a car, what you portray in a picture lies in front of you, athough you have long since left it behind you. The existence of pictures is prof enough of their delay in comparison with reality. And perceiving the pictures is again another day.

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HEART 1986 11 X 9 .1 C M WAT E R C O LO U R O N PA P E R

Heart is the preliminary study for a painting with the same title. It grew out of the fascination ??? I saw in a flower shop this heart that was made out of entangled twigs and then painted in this colour which makes it a funerary heart. That made it clear to me that the symbol of the heart could be turned upside down ... from the symbol of love to a symbol of death and also commemorating and mourning. I actually monkeyed this watercolour directly on a painted surface. I first painted the back and then put the painting on the floor and dripped the paint onto it.

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ANTICHAMBRE 1985 10.3 X 10.3 CM PENCIL ON PAPER

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T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N 1986 18 X 2 3.7 CM

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SC HWA R Z H E I D E 1985 11 . 5 X 1 3 . 5 C M PENCIL ON PAPER COURTESY ZENO X

This painting depicts silhouetted tree tops against a neutral monochromatic background evenly divided by a series of vertical black stripes. Yet the apparent simplicity of the composition is contrasted by the work’s title, which is the name of a Nazi concentration camp. Drawings secretly made by prisoners at the camp were often ripped into strips to avoid confiscation and some of these were later reattached. This painting is based on a drawing made by a survivor at the camp, Alfred Kantor, whose book of sketches has been a source of inspiration for Tuymans’ Holocaust project. While the black lines serve as figurative reminders of imprisonment, resembling window bars or a fence, the near-abstract composition also evokes the unspeakable nature of the camp’s horrors. While its physical structure is now destroyed, the unremarkable landscape at the scene acquires a sinister meaning.

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GASKAMER 1986 30.4 X 39.8 CM AQUARELL ON PAPER KUNSTMUSEUM BERN

Tuymans executed this watercolor during a visit to Dachau concentration camp. The interior of the gas chamber is composed of a series of dark rectangular planes and appears at once compressed and abstract. This visual ambiguity is evocative of the concealed function of the room as a site of mass murder. As Tuymans has noted, “The room remains incredible to the end. Its purpose is deception. The room deceives, the objects deceive.” This watercolor remained in Tuymans’ studio for several years and became the subject of a small painting, Gas Chamber, 1986. It offers a response to Adorno’s maxim that to write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. As Tuymans notes, “The final solution is something hidden and I want to integrate that into the cultural discourse. I see it as something that might happen again, as a possibility. I don’t want to take a moral stance, but I want to oppose the taboo aspect.”

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OUR NEW QUARTERS 1986 8 0 X12 0 C M O I L ON CANVAS

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K R I S TA L L N A C H T 1985 13 X 21. 5 C M PENCIL ON PAPER P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N, A N T W E R P

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K R ISTA L L NACH T

In 1992 Luc Tuymans made the edition Kristallnacht for a portfolio with works by other artists published for the occasion of Documenta IX, curated by the Belgian curator Jan Hoet. Tuymans participated in this Documenta with a selection of paintings mostly dealing with the second world war. Despite the highly topical nature of these works, he decided not to provide the public with any background explanation, The image used for the edition ‘Kristalnacht’ was first made by Tuymans as a drawing done in 1985, after seeing the documentary “Kristallnacht” (Night of the Broken Glass), showing footage of the orchestrated outbreak of violence against the jews by German and Austrian civilians, guided by members of the nazi Sturmabteilung. Kristallnacht marked the shift in persecution of the jews from economic, social and political exclusion to state-approved physical elimination, and is often referred to as the beginning of the Holocaust. Tuymans’ drawing shows an abstraction of the anonymous masses going through the streets carrying torches. The quick-drawn dark lines indicate the direction of the moving masses by the whirl of lines made by the torches. The drawing was made on a found piece of green paper and is divided in 3 ‘scenes’. On the left side of the drawing we see what could be the starting or end point of a march, where a group of people are trying to form a circle, on the right we see 2 scenes of flowing masses, rendered as an agitated mass of lines, seen from two different angles. Although there is no indication of scale or depth, or an indication that what we are looking at are human figures, the succession of these three parts successfully gives the illusion of a flowing mass, evoking the feeling of the potential dangers of a faceless organism as such. ... You saw the masses moving, and the lines of the torches. If you formed an abstraction from this, you would only see these lines, like blood flowing, or water. Graphically I perceived this as an agitated mass of lines, as a whirl... 2 The image of flowing masses carrying torches has been in collective memory as a folkloric phenomenon where civilians gather to take justice in own hands, think of witch hunting, ku klux klan, colonial uprising By combining this image of mass hysteria with the military connotated green of the paper, Tuymans points to the paradox of the nazi party as a pretext for installing nazi Germany’s broader racial policies. The drawing Kristallnacht (1985), indirectly led to the painting Our New Quarters from 1986, one of Tuymans’ most problematic paintings dealing with the cultural memories WWII. The painting Our New Quarters is based on a postcard from the concentration camp Theresienstadt, as found by Tuymans in the sketch book- journals of Alfred Kantor. 1 The postcards were handed out to prisoners to send to their families, and show the inner courtyard of the model- concentration camp, build by the nazi’s as a cover up the crude reality of the death camps. Kantor doubled-up the seemingly meaningless nature of the image by

writing the words ‘Our New Quarters’ under the postcard. Tuymans used the same (military) green as the paper of Kristallnacht as the backdrop colour for the painting Our New Quarters, and used a similar rendering of flat, darker lines as in Kristallnacht to depict the image of Theresienstadt. In an interview from 1997 with Josef Helfenstein, Tuymans said about this: “... in Our New Quarters, the same feeling of the masses is portrayed without it being necessary to have a mass of people in the picture.” Tuymans used the drawing Kristallnacht to make a series of colour photocopies, a medium as banal as Kantor’s postcard.

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K R I S TA L L N AC H T

L A CORRESPONDANCE 1985 80 X 120 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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Untitled (La Correspondance) 1985 40 x 60 cm, collage Private collection, Belgium The stencil refers directly to the wall drawing, La Correspondence. It was the first attempt, just trying to trace with scissors the lines of the pattern, of the somewhat stylized element of the wall paper, already indicating the idea that you are going through the surface. Eventually it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work out and I used real wall paper for a stencil. I found wall paper that came close to the one I had drawn.

L A COR R E SP ON DA NCE

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tur, od quate de poritate vel eaque sollesto modipid maximag natque pratiae volupta tusanda volor mod maio volorum quatur archit quam, offic temqui re quoditae ea volende ruptas int. Tem. Am, offictur, sequodis ulpa nis es aboreribus. Ut arciis non nossed quam fugitatum que alibeaquunt venis doluptae. Ibus a peliquunto conserspidit eum alist esto inciendi coreicia experiosame pellis aut velent occus, tem apid quiatis sincienis nam que non plaborem rempore prepuditiis quunt arupici musam, tet recerum estorum, cullis essinct emost, et res eos pro core remperf erchillupid quae perae perum duciet aut audam is perae. Itatiam quis sitatur, vellestion et

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LA CORRESPONDANCE

ANTICHAMBRE 1985 65 X 72 CM O I L ON CANVAS

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BLUE BALLS 1980 57 X 72 CM GOACHE ON PAPER

This drawing goes back to the image of eyeballs as the centre of seeing, to the idea of how new space is created in the perimeter of the cirkle. That is the reason why there is a black line next to them, in order to hold everything together. If it is issing the forms swim away from the page. The drawing has also something to do with animated cartoons, amongst them Felix the cat, and with the stylisation of the eye in animated cartoons to a purely abstracted form. The cirkles are almost symmetrical, It was an attempt to destroy the format, and to do this completely. At the same time there is something sick depicted in the picture, because it constantely gets on oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nerves. The rather densely pointed blue keeps wanting to break out of the black outline. Space is changd, and foreground and background are continously being mixed up. The stroboscopic effect and Duchamps rotating pictures may also possibly be important aspects.

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THE ARENA 1978 60.5 X 78.8 CM MIXED MEDIA

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