Oil and Varnish on printed advertisement for toys, painted in 2001. Towards Italy, through a tilted world. On the road from Switzerland to Italy, the image begins to lose its balance. The 1960s cars still carry the charm of holiday travel, but they seem tired, displaced, and slightly deranged. The Alpine landscape is so steep that even the tractors appear to work upside down, pushing the scene toward the surreal. Behind the tunnel, the Italian tricolore remains a promise of arrival after strain and motion.
The Car Portraits 2001–2010
The Car Portraits (2001–2010) is a long-term body of work created over roughly a decade: paintings made directly onto found printed media (magazines, catalogs, advertisements). Each piece is a one-off physical work; this token is the studio edition release of the motif. Lytke creates his paintings by working directly on photographs or printed matter, generating a distinctive interplay between painting and photography. Characterised by a restrained use of colour and isolated, objective elements, his works evoke openness and transformation. They offer a subtle commentary on the relationship between image and representation in contemporary culture, while challenging the conventions of media imagery by infusing them with a more art-historical significance. The Car Portraits, oil or later acrylic on pulp, comprise over hundred works primarily created between 2001 and 2010.. All digital versions reflect the character and size of the original works – some of which are miniature pieces, painted in formats smaller than a matchbox.