Luc Tuymans A German Artist at The Saatchi Gallery

Luc Tuymans's paintings delve into the inner workings of how mythology is created. The reality of Luc Tuymans's work is almost 'twee', pleasing images of a lampshade or leopard-skin rug pass quite comfortably as aesthetic totems; it's only their cognitive association with the Holocaust, or atrocities of the Belgian Congo, that encapsulates the true banality of evil - the unspeakable horror in a teacup, the monstrous potential of an empty bath. Luc Tuymans's paintings consciously fall desperately short of the iconic, becoming vestiges posed as counterfeit emblems for that which cannot be conveyed.Before I begin painting I'm in an extremely agitated state. During the actual execution I experience enormous pleasure, but before that it's sheer agony. The act of painting really involves a kind of aggression or violence. I've thought a lot about my work in relation to the cinema and techniques of cutting and montage. The violence in question is fierce, but also distant and abstract. The green orchid is a violent painting. The flower is fleshy and has a sort of poisonous atmosphere about it. And there's something sexual about the cut.
All my works are executed in a single day. It's the only way I can work. I'm too eager to see the image finished to let it develop over longer periods. It's more like a take in filmmaking - I can always try one more time and start all over again, but I never return to a painting. I always go all the way. Speed is not the issue, though. My work is analytical, not gestural.Luc Tuymans paints the indescribable. His dark muted scenes seem vaguely familiar, distant, like haunting memories. Drawing his inspiration from grand themes, Luc Tuymans taps into a universal social guilt: from the Holocaust, or imperialism, to child abuse. By minimalising his images, he creates a raw emotion through paint; each painting linking spiritually, somehow instinctively, to the rest.
Luc Tuymans's pigeons bop in dumb disarray. Dirty and disease-ridden, they're a strangely curious mob, a metaphoric stand-in for ourselves. Painted in the muted tones of history, Luc Tuymans offers a chilling ultimate truth about humankind. He makes a cold comedy of a terrifying thought.her cherished memory a mere ghost - faded and shrinking, as if she never was. Only her black dress and glasses remain, sinister and anonymous props, lonely relics without sentiment or intimacy.

Find more about Luc Tuymans paintings, biography, solo exhibitions, group exhibitions and resource of Luc Tuymans artist. View Luc Tuymans artwork online at The Saatchi Gallery - London contemporary art gallery.Luc Tuymans