Cy twombly was an artist of the period of modern art, whose graffiti-like paintings and drawings are classed as abstract expressionism and action painting. He lived the majority of his life in Rome and focused on the beauty and history he found there, making it a part of his art as he combined historic literature with a modern, contemporary take on art.
His colossal paintings and explosive drawings are warm in colour, consisting mostly of white or cream with a variety of pinks, reds and oranges as well as pencil marks of black and grey.
His paintings are “simultaneously about nothing and about everything” [3] in the sense that they are abstract representations of nothing particularly important, but were inspired by something nonetheless. His paintings could be seen as an attempt to portray emotion and his own inner thoughts and feelings; the splattered red paint being symbolic of passion, desire or even eroticism.
Hero and Leander
One of his works “Hero and Leander” is a reference to Greek mythology, whereby a hero would swim 3 kilometres every night to meet his lover. Rather than painting the human bodies or any sort of portrait like his inspiration Nicolas Poussin, he instead painted a visual representation of the feelings involved in the story: longing, caring and desperation all portrayed through delicate drips of paint and rich variations of the colour red as well as soft pastel blue hues. Although the painting is said to be an abstract portrayal of feelings and inner emotions, I do see physical similarity to waves on water which could be a display of the lengths and effort the hero would go to in order to see his lover.
Blackboard drawing
However, some of his other works appear less meaningful and more rebellious. His blackboard drawings are somewhere between art and literacy. Although imitating handwriting the swirls, loops and scrawls don’t actually form specific words. This leaves us on the cusp of understanding but not allowing us to do so, since the marks resemble words but don’t actually form them. This series of drawings would have been influenced by his time in the army as a cryptologist, leading to him drawing scribbles that an audience cannot understand, like a code. It has been said that his blackboard drawings show “the moment where knowledge and fantasy meet” [2] therefore displaying the link between fact and fiction. He has previously made it clear that these drawings were influenced by Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks and drawings where the artist “drew in order to learn” [1] therefore showing the importance of the process of the work rather than the final outcome.
Some of his works have been controversial among the art world, as they can be deemed childish. On the contrary I find that the simplicity and minimalism, particularly in his blackboard drawings, is quite meaningful as well as unique and rebellious in a way. He once said “My line is childlike but not childish. It is very difficult to fake… to get that quality you need to project yourself into the child’s line. It has to be felt”[1] and as far as his works go, I find that “childlike but not childish” is the best description.
References:
- http://www.theartstory.org/artist-twombly-cy.htm
- http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2011/07/art-cy-twombly
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E56P55i3HHQ
Other sources:
A Level Art 