This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
feature tuymans & sasnal
interior, night. Luc Tuymans’s high-ceilinged flat in the centre of LT: A piece of yours that struck me in The Painting of Modern Life
Antwerp. There are no paintings on the walls, but a faded photograph group show at the Hayward Gallery [October to December 2007] was
on a shelf bears a close resemblance to Tuymans’s Der Diagnostische the ski jump [Kielce (Ski Jump), 2003]. It has a different sensitivity and
Blick 1 (1992). Tuymans and Wilhelm Sasnal are seated across from each feel because of its stylisation, which is different to some of the harsher
other at a glass-topped dining-room table. A digital voice recorder sits ones. I could see how it could remind people of other paintings [of
between them, next to an overflowing ashtray, two packs of Marlboros, mine]. What was interesting was to finally see the scale of your work.
a pack of Kents and a Zippo lighter. The Marlboros are Tuymans’s; I had never actually seen them before. Like with Airplanes (1999), for
a notoriously heavy smoker, he just bought a share in a late-night example, the size of it is really important. The show is well thought
bar in Antwerp as a hedge against stricter anti-smoking bylaws. The out but would have been stronger with less work. But again, I was not
Kents are Sasnal’s, bought at the corner shop. He only smokes when the curator of the show, but I think the juxtapositions could have been
he’s nervous. sharper, more legible.

Wilhelm Sasnal: We were talking about Jordan Kantor’s Artforum WS: Have you curated?
article [‘The Tuymans Effect’, Jordan Kantor, Artforum, November
2004; Kantor examines Tuymans’s ‘profound influence’ on the works of LT: Yes, and will again.
Sasnal, Eberhard Havekost and Magnus von Plessen].
WS: Honestly, I don’t like hanging a show, putting works up on the wall.
Luc Tuymans: ‘The Tuymans Effect’ – basically, it’s ludicrous. Is it a The work I like the most is in the studio.
way to promote things? Is the art market behind it? If you look at each
painter in that article individually you see enormous differences. When
I started I had the same problem – the first thing they came up with was
Gerhard Richter, which is not the case. OK, I don’t dislike Richter, you
could say that he opened the way, and that has an art-historical value,
but in terms of the painting itself, and in terms of process, I do not see
the resemblance.
WS: Comparing painters is stupid, but people in places like Artforum
need to look at different artists through one set of glasses. I think he
wrote it to help people understand, but people came away only looking
at our work through your work. I really struggled with this three years ago,
when you had the show at Tate [Modern] and I had a show at Camden
[Arts Centre]. The article had just come out and I spoke to Kantor,
and in fact, his intentions were good. Have you seen his paintings?
LT: No.
WS: His work is very close to yours. Perhaps even a tribute. LT: I have hung every one of my shows, and I have done about 75.
WS: I hang my own, of course, but never a show of other artists.
LT: An artist-curated show is dynamic, very immediate and direct, with
completely different propositions. And it’s essential, too, as so often
shows are conceptualised, and the artist is reduced to the illustrator of
a concept.
WS: Sometimes I curate, but only in my head, and not necessarily with
art – sometimes with music and films. I guess I find this a way to link to
the other disciplines. Do you take photographs?
LT: Never, because they distort my memory too much. Or rather, I like
the distortion of my memory. I would rather have the inconsistency of
the memory as I have the inconsistency within the work.
WS: Where do you look for subject material?
LT: Most of my thoughts come in the shower. I take a long time to
wake up, two hours of drinking coffee, thinking, smoking. Smoking
is very important. Then ideas sort of formulate, and I look for them,
for possible leads, everywhere. Sometimes things just come through
artreview 44
Tuymans/Sasnal.indd 44 8/1/08 09:53:30
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142
Produced with Yudu - www.yudu.com