11/10 @ 7PM
The Wexner Center for the Arts: Lambert Family Lecture 2009
Luc Tuymans is considered to be one the most significant painters of his generation and T.J. Clark has received his PhD in art history and is a professor of art at the University of Carlifornia, Berkeley and is also the author of numerous books.
The fist topic of the evening was putting words to the pictures. Clark believes Tuymans is not only a great painter but also excellent at putting words to his paintings. They brought up one of his paintings on the projector. T.J. Clark spent a few minutes describing the painting from his perspective. Luc then agreed on some of T.J.'s points. He said the painting was not pre-meditated and came easily to him. He most definitely draws on his heritage throughout his work. They discussed the main focus of the image, which was the soldier with the yellow and black cap on. It is important to work with the imagery.
Next, they discussed the question of politics in his artwork. The image on the screen now was "our new quarters." The color green accessed a moral issue and the words on the painting were employed in order to terminate it. Tuymans admitted his hesitancy toward creating this painting because he felt like "don't dare go there if you haven't been there," but he decided he didn't care and went for it.
The third image on the projector was the black and yellow flag. The necessity of political instigation gives the picture something to think about. Tuymans discussed his hometown where racism was prevalent and they were right-winged radicals. He wanted to create an image to give them back what they wanted to loose.
As the lecture went on, they addressed the fact that paintings are a way of thinking things out. Imagery deconstructs itself and the size of image can be "detrimental." Tuymans is deeply fascinated with television. He was a child of television, which means learning is based on images rather art, writing, reading, etc. His art is also influenced by photography. Photography, to him, is proof. There is the element of interpretation. Lastly, before they opened the lecture up for questions, they discussed color.