Phaidon, LONDON, United Kingdom

Luc Tuymans Biography

Antwerp, Belgium, 1958

Luc Tuymans is considered one of the most influential painters in the contemporary artistic scene. One of the key figures of the new generation of figurative painters that kept painting during a period when many believed that the medium had lost its traditional relevance. In the context of the new information era, many artists believed that painting was a form of expression too conservative, that didn't match the heterogeneous nature of contemporary artistic expression. The work of Tuymans shows how erroneous this idea was.

Tuymans work constitutes a vast deposit data, taken from photography, television and cinema, mixing them with a wide range of different styles and topics. His subject matter includes important historical events, such as the Holocaust and the politics of the Belgian Congo, as well as vain themes like Christmas decorations, daily objects, etc. We also find paintings where he expresses abstract emotional states entitled "Bitterness" or "Insomnia", which imply existential or philosophical connections with the human condition.

The extense range of imagery used by Tuymans resists deliberately to being labeled. The ideas are not expressed explicitly but we find them implicit in indirect allusions, creating an ambigous collage of unconnected details and fragments. Makes us think that Tuyman believes that representation can solely be partial and subjective through isolated fragments and therefore the meaning must be discovered as if it were a puzzle.

Solo Exhibitions (Selection):

2006 - Luc TuymansKanazawa 21st. Century Museum. Ishikawa, Japan. - Luc Tuymans, Museo Serralves, Porto, Portugal.

2005 - Compton Verney House Trust, Warwickshire, England. - Les Gilles de Binche, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium.

2004 - Luc Tuyamns,Tate Modern, Londres, England. - Luc Tuyamns,K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany. - Tracing, Museo Tamayo, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico. - Luc Tuymans, Display Room 2, Saatchi Gallery, London.

2003 - The Arena, Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover, Germany. - The Arena, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany. - The Arena, Kunstmuseum, St. Gallen, Switzerland. - Display, Helsinki Kunsthalle, Helsinki, Finland. - Fortune, David Zwirner, New York, United States. - Curtains: Reconstitution, Clermont-Ferrand, France. - The Rumor: Monoprints, Brooke Alexander Editions, New York, United States.

2001 - The Rumour, White Cube, London, England. - Imperfektum, Rogaland Kunstmuseum, Rogaland, Norway. - Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany. - Luc Tuymans, Belgian Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy.

2000 - Mwana Kitoko: beautiful white man, David Zwirner, New York, United States. - Undetermined, Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, Japan - Insolence, Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, Japan. - Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium_. - Luc Tuymans Sincerely,_ Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.

_1999 - Splendid Isolation,_ White Cube, London, England.

- The Purge, Paintings/1991-1998, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, Holland.

- The Passion, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium.

- The Purge, Paintings/1991-1998, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburgh, Austria.

- The Purge, Paintings/1991-1998, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany.

- The Passion, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland. _ - The Passion,_ Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium.