D.D.R.

"DDR, a two-part work based on stamps from the DDR, shows an athelete who was a resistance fighter under the Nazis. He did not survive the war. First you see the portrait that is transformed into a universal portrait: the man appears as an emblematic figure, mythologized by a halo, genderless. Next to the portrait is the depiction of the sport the man had played - he was an Olympic diver. The painting is brutal and poignant at the same time. The faceless, Everyman hero, who excelled at sport and stood up for the oppressed is here presented as a shadow of his former self, his face mummified in the crude brushtrokes. The resonance is clear: the power of the individual to challenge the State can only bring a sorry end. What should be a celebratory portrait, an opportunity to boast of his brilliance as an Olympic-standard diver, is in reality a subtle and painterly rendition of the dispensability of a hero. ...As the DDR no longer exists, the picture also has the meaning of a circle that is now closed. It is the picture of a completion for which it had never been destined" (Luc Tuymans quoted in 'Artist Writings', in U. Loock, et al (eds.), Luc Tuymans, London and New York, 2003, p. 136-37).