by Luc Tuymans (Artist)
Published on the occasion of renowned Belgian figurative painter Luc Tuymans' retrospective exhibition in Hungary and Poland, this volume circumvents the typical monograph format by focusing on the reflections of regional writers, whose perspectives were solicited for being less inhibited and more direct than the typical art historian's. Contributors were granted complete freedom to comment on a single picture, Tuymans' activity as a painter or any other aspect of his personality. The resulting narratives, which are accompanied by a well-considered selection of color reproductions, share the spirit of the pictures and are quite personal and engaging. For example, Warsaw's Agata Tuszynska writes, "The echoes of the Holocaust that permeate my world and are my deepest genealogy are your soil as well. We dig around in ashes and play with smoke. I, with words, you, with images."