Today’s artwork chosen by Stephanie Peek
AGE: 68
OCCUPATION: Artist
NEIGHBORHOOD: Inner Richmond
THE PIECE OF ARTWORK I LOVE: “Pink Glasses, 2001,” by Luc Tuymans
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS PIECE? Tuymans handles figuration so intelligently. There’s a kind of nostalgia to his work, and an attention to political issues, justice. His work includes so much of what I’d like to capture as a painter.
HOW DID YOU DISCOVER IT? Tuymans represented Belgium at the 1997 Venice Biennale. When I walked into the Belgian Pavilion, my breath was absolutely taken away by his paintings. Later I saw this piece at SFMoMA and immediately recognized it as his. It’s such a quiet painting — everything else around it was vying for attention.
WHAT MOST STANDS OUT TO YOU ABOUT IT? Tuymans's touch is so sensitive, intense. He blurs the image and softens it. As a northern European painter, he is more ofa tonal painter than a colorist — his paintings evoke an elegiac quality. Yet they are so contemporary, with his reduced, reconfigured, closely cropped images.
Where: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 151 Third St., San Francisco
When: 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. daily through Labor Day, except closed Wednesdays and open until 8:45 p.m. Thursdays
Admission: $7 to $12.50; half-price Thursday evenings and free first Tuesday of the month
Contact: (415) 357-4000 or www.sfmoma.org
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