Mythic Proportions
Cy Twombly at Gagosian Gallery, NYC
Cy Twombly was unique in his contradictions. He was thoroughly American while also a globetrotter, with his home and studio in Virginia and his homes in Italy. His loose scribbles and dripping paint and wax always have a child-like quality, yet his interests were focused towards history and myth. Two new exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery in New York examine the beautiful in-between space that Twombly occupied.
The show uptown, entitled Coronation of Sesostris, focuses on ten monumental paintings from 2000. These paintings were created as a series which examines the Egyptian pharaoh Sesostris. Inspired by the accounts in Histories by Herodotus, Twombly shows the arc of creation, ascension, and finally, transformation in death. These paintings are lush and radiant with color and pulsing meter. Texts from Sappho, Patricia Waters, and Histories litter the canvases. Rather than conceptual brilliance, Twombly offers animal pleasures for the viewer.
Downtown in Chelsea, Twombly is treated to a much larger exhibition called In Beauty It Is Finished: Drawings 1951-2008. Gagosian organized this show to coincide with the publication of the final volume of Cy Twombly: Catalogue Raisonné of Drawings. Like Sesostris uptown, these are works that are filled with energy. Again, narrative arcs and myths reappear more often in later works as Twombly aged and found a home in Italy. The notebooks also on view feel almost delicious with their markings and splotches. It feels like a museum survey dedicated to sensuality.
If you happen to be in New York for the next few weeks, seeing these exhibitions is a worthy excursion. From the intensity of Twombly’s paintings to the musical energy of his drawings, the artist offers us tales of power, heroism, destruction, and creation. It is like reading a book or a poem that you cannot put down: Twombly is eternally engrossing and consumable.
