II. 2002 – 2008 Arbeitswelt in den USA - Tylle, H. D.

1. Industrial art in the past
H.D. Tylle is one of the very few artists in Germany who intensively addresses the world of “labor
and industry” in his paintings. Two reasons why this central area of everyday human life is neglected
today are the marketing of art and the prevailing, highly subjective understanding of art according to
which a painting is expected to tell us more about the artist than about the subject.
At least quantitatively, however, the topic of labor has also played a rather subordinate role in the
history of art – something which is true not only for fine art a such but also for other genres, such as
literature, drama and film.
In the past, this may have been largely due to the repeatedly dominant idealistic understanding of art
as something totally different and of a higher order than everyday social reality. Labor, by contrast,
was seen as a mere necessity which was very rarely regarded as art-worthy and, if so, only under
certain conditions.
In this connection, however, we can also see a more profound feature of industrial art:
The subject of “labor” focuses our attention on a highly sensitive social sphere, both visually and
intellectually. After all, a given society is always based on its organization of labor – its “political economy”.
Labor is the fundamental sphere of human reproduction, and indeed not just from an anthropological
perspective. Rather, it generally shapes the historical formation of society as a whole. Any
focus on labor therefore always concentrates on one of the most sensitive areas of human practice,
which it then seeks to understand and makes the object of either critical or affirmative interpretation.
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