Francis Alys

Francis Alys (two dots over the y)

I was initially drawn to Francis Alys through his work with performance art, photography, and book arts.
He says the style of his painting is derived from hand-painted signs in his neighborhood in Mexico City. He sort of plays a game of Telestrations with commercial sign painters by giving them copies and then working from the reproductions.  As the process continued, it would ask questions about painting itself and relationships with painting and between painters in the modern world.

He works with narratives and introspective situations. His work with reproductions reminds me of Luc Tuymans.

http://www.francisalys.com/public/painting.html

Luc Tuymans

Luc Tuymans

Gas Chamber, 1986, oil on canvas

The Rabbit, oil on canvas

Tuymans uses photographs as source material to create dislocation from real events, manipulation and deception in art. He executes all of his works in a single day and experiences feelings of aggression and violence before and during painting. His works, removed from photographs, create a sense of detachment. They often appear blown-out and overexposed.

Very similar to Wilhelm Sasnal.