TWO x TWO Honors Luc Tuymans
TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art celebrates distinguished Belgian artist Luc Tuymans as its honoree at this year’s event. Tuymans is presented with the amfAR Award of Excellence for Artistic Contributions to the Fight Against AIDS, for his ongoing support of the foundation.
Born in Morstel, Belgium in 1958, Tuymans is credited with revitalizing contemporary painting in the early 1990s and was one of the first artists to join David Zwirner in 1994. Tuymans’ paintings are characterized by muted, monochromatic palettes of gray, green, or sepia tones with a mystifying use of gradation, achieved through his masterful application of paint. Most often portraying figures or scenes taken from photographs, he utilizes images of widely known individuals and settings to offer commentary on sensitive subjects. Tackling topics including the Holocaust, 9/11, and religion, Tuymans has developed a modern take on history painting.
An exhibition of Tuymans’s portraiture is currently on view at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas (through Jan. 5, 2014) and a retrospective of his work traveled the U.S. in 2010 and 2011. His work can be found in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, Centre Georges Pompidou, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art (New York), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Tate Gallery, among many others.
One of Tuymans’s paintings is included in this year’s TWO x TWO: Mr. Sagawa, 2013, which can be seen here. The amfAR Award is presented at a brunch hosted by Amy and Vernon Faulconer and Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, on October 27, 2013. Tuymans joins past honorees April Gornik, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, Julian Schnabel, Joel Shapiro, Cecily Brown, Tom Friedman, Elizabeth Peyton, Jim Hodges, Peter Doig, Christopher Wool, Mark Grotjahn and Richard Phillips.
Portrait: Belgian artist Luc Tuymans, 2013 Honoree, © Studio Luc Tuymans
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