Image Workshop

Image Workshop

Luc Tuymans

The brushstrokes in the black and white paintings are loose and fluid. Tuymans has likely used a large brush and minimal strokes to achieve this look that brings energy and texture to the paintings. I think that his use of gestural marks bring interest to otherwise ordinary paintings. A regular still life and portrait (especially in black and white) can be rather boring but I think Tuymans style alleviates the paintings to something more than ordinary.

Tuymans also uses cropping and editing to transform ordinary items into something ambiguous and, in some cases, mysterious. For example, the painting to the bottom left is a buttonhole however, in cropping the image so closely around said buttonhole changes a mundane object into something that resembles a vagina, whilst the blood stains bottom right become abstract shapes. We used this method of cropping in the workshop and it produced some very interesting results. Cropping can bring a new sense of meaning to an image, either by abstracting it or bringing something into more detail. As Sanford Shwartz puts it ‘[Tuymans] has an odd gift for showing the world in disembodied, not always decipherable, and almost always ominous ways’

sources :

https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/heritage/press-release

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2010/02/11/gray-magic/

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/luc-tuymans/luc-tuymans-room-2

David Salle

David Salle uses black and white in combination with colour in his collage like paintings. I think his use of both creates a sense of separation on his works that emphasises the collage like style in an effective way. On the other hand, I think the way the greyscale breaks up the colour also makes the paintings more seamless. His paintings are very busy and I think the greyscale is a welcome break from the intense colour. Without the black and white his work may be too confusing for the viewer but with it the pieces become easier too look at and the eye is drawn around the piece.

Mingus in Mexico, 1990 oil and acrylic on canvas 84 x 114 inches

sources :

https://www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/david-salle

http://www.davidsallestudio.net/plateC12.085.html

http://www.davidsallestudio.net/plateD12.065.html

http://www.baldwingallery.com/archive/exhibitions/2007/0307_dsdw/dsdw1.htm

Thomas Scheibitz

Much as with Salle’s work I think that Scheibitz’s use of greyscale in combination with colour creates some very interesting work. I think that in combination with the geometric shapes he uses, the greyscale brings relief to the organised chaos of his work. Although not as crazy as Salle’s work, due to the sharp angles and lines of the shapes he uses, Scheibitz’s work does have a hectic energy and I think the black and white breaks this up and allows the colours to remain individual from each other rather than blending together and creating a messy painting, which I feel would happen otherwise.