Tuymans and Me

The first time I saw the Luc Tuymans show I had an immediate favorite. It is called Hands. The second time, I changed my preference. Interestingly, the subject matter was more distilled and less ambiguous. Titled Chalk, it features hands, as did my original favorite. However, this composition was, as I mentioned, distilled in the sense that it consisted only only of a pair of hands, whereas the work to which I first gravitated only emphasizzed that part of the body. In regard to composition, this first attractive piece was simply a bust, though both its title and area designate hands as the focus.

I don't know why Tuyman's work in which hands became significant appealed to me. I think it has something to do with his general aesthetic. There is something very personal and dark about his style that lends itself to intimate depictions of people and parts of the body. The work I favored on my second viewing actually features the hands of Tuymans' wife. She is wearing a pair of long black gloves and a piece of broken chalk rests in her palms. That is all. And I think that's all Tuymans intended us to see. A portrait of his wife, almost, but disguised as something otherwise unrecognizable, and indicative of a situation completely remote to that which it truly represents. Tuymans is a master of ambiguity and of uncomfortably stark weirdness. His choice of subject matter reflects this. and, in my opinion, his best work centers around objects and situations that have a very personal root, either for Tuymans himself or for someone else.