Luc Tuymans Wants It Darker at David Zwirner New York

Belgian painter Luc Tuymans departs from his signature washed-out canvases to experiment with heightened contrast and more saturated hues in a new solo exhibition titled The Barn.

The show takes place at David Zwirner New York‘s 537 West 20th Street location from 11 May to 21 July 2023.

The painting Bob (2022), for instance, depicts a scene from Bob Ross’s popular American television series ‘The Joy of Painting’. Ross and his canvas are starkly lit by pasty hues, while the surrounding set disappears into a dark blue void, a compelling rendering of the harsh lighting of a TV set.

Tuymans’ tonal variation is also suggestive of the artificiality of the scene—the Ross that appeared on TV was, after all, an artfully created character. In his rendering, Tuymans withholds the tranquil landscape Ross is painting from us, offering only the roughest outline in areas of light and dark.

Main image: Luc Tuymans, Bob (2022) (detail). © Luc Tuymans. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner, New York.