Artist page for Luc Tuymans (born 1958)
Although Tuymans's main activity is painting, he has also worked with film and, recently, printmaking. His concern is with the mediation and translation of images through the mass media, and through the processes of painting or printing. Many of his images appear blurred or reduced, as though viewed at several removes, or camouflaged in some way. They are frequently based on photographs or film stills, which the artist photographs and re-photographs until much of the original detail and clarity is lost. This gradual deterioration of the image has its parallel in the apparent deterioration of the painted surface, a result of the cheap materials and distressed finishes which Tuymans employs. In his words, 'the work is about the loss of meaning, but also about the failure of representation'
