Oil on paper, 21x30cms.
I’ve been a little stuck on what to post. I’m in research mode: reading, thinking, and having discuss – which makes it difficult to write something cohesive while I am still processing. However, someone asked me last week what my daily schedule is like, which inspired an idea of how to approach this post. I will share snippets, ideas and sources that are shaping my thinking along with some notes and sketches. At this research focused point, it’s hard to maintain a cohesive written blog, so some posts will act more as an online sketchbook.
The works of Cy Twombly were a slow burn for me. I didn’t understand them and I didn’t like his aesthetic. But when I visited The Menil Collection several years ago and experienced them in person, I was smitten. A few weeks ago, I happened on a talk on Twombly by Jenny Saville at The Menil Collection, which inspired me to return to Twombly. I discovered I love listening to painters talking about other painters. The dissection of how a painting is made and the interpretations are fascinating, so there will definitely be more of that in the future!
Coincidentally last week, a podcast that I enjoy referenced a scare bibliography on the artist, Chalk: The Art and Erasure of Cy Twombly by Joshua Rivkin. I also found a review of a recent exhibition, Cy Twombly, the Content Painter in The New Yorker, both prompting me to spend some time revisiting Twombly’s visual language.
I’m spending time thinking about erasure in drawing and painting, a topic that is resurfacing in my mind but I have not yet been brave enough to action. In Art Psychotherapy, we often think of paintings as precious, rather than as ephemeral objects, an interpretation that has stuck strongly in my mind. However, there seems to be a shift towards ephemerality, maybe as a result of our preoccupations with environmental concerns and human fragility. On the personal side, I have been playing with ideas of impermanence, perhaps as I am getting older, and so this area seems to be resonating. (A side note that is interesting, when I considering painting over my paintings, I seem to end up adding to them, rather than erasing. This requires more consideration before I can comment more.) In the meantime, I have identified a few older pieces that are contenders for being, at least, partially erased.
I am currently reading The Essential Cy Twombly, by Nicola Del Roscio and listening to Chalk: The Art and Erasure of Cy Twombly, by Joshua on Audible. Still Life: The Essential Cy Twombly, 2022, is available for sale as a fine art Giclee print through my website and the original painting can be viewed at Atelier do Tijolo.