"Painting is the cornerstone"

"The debate over whether painting is dead or alive is the result of a misunderstanding," says Luc Tuymans, one of the most renowned artists on the international scene. References to film, television and mass media undergo a filter of reflection in the Belgian's work and end up as realism with a strong dose of emotion. Now Málaga's CAC is hosting his first-ever exhibition in Spain, after several earlier projects fell through.

According to Tuymans, "talking about the death of painting is stupid, just like arguing whether one artistic medium is superior to another. It's just a matter of options." In his case, painting was the right option "because it is not a naïf medium, nor a naïve one. The painting is also an artifact, an object with which you establish physical links, and I think that's important."

Tuymans believes that painting was the first conceptual art, perhaps even in prehistoric times. "By painting, they fixed knowledge about hunting, food and habits [...] That is why I think painting is the cornerstone of art."

The process of creating his own visual images, says Tuymans, can take months. Using successive sketches, he conceptualizes and analyzes the project, and also seeks information through Polaroid photos and websites. "Later, when the project has matured, I make the painting. Always in one day."

The show includes images of plants and others of sick people taken from a medical magazine. These are individuals who loved and suffered but remained anonymous. Others, such as Secrets. Portrait of Albert Speer seem to be above all symbols of power. This suggests a double reflection on the individual - a critical one that analyzes his love of power, and a humanitarian one that delves into his helplessness. "That might be so," says Tuymans. "The flower paintings are a contrast and a complement: it's true that they confront tenderness with violence, but the greatest violence is the one that is mixed in with tenderness."

Luc Tuymans. Retratos y vegetación. Until September 4 at Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Avenida de Alemania s/n, Málaga.