hyde or die

US artist Cy Twombly creates ceiling for Louvre

Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand named the artist a knight in the Legion of Honor at the work’s inauguration, saying the ceiling reminded him of “the sea, allied with the sun.”

Twombly, who has lived mostly in Italy since 1959, is best known for his paintings reminiscent of graffiti or doodling. The color blue is unusual for him.

“I got into something new in old age,” he said.

The Lexington, Virginia-born artist said he was inspired by the colors he found in a Chinese print as well the blue of early Italian Renaissance artist Giotto, who used paint made from lapis lazuli.

“I was just thinking of the blue with the disks on it, it’s totally abstract … I put all the great Greek sculptors’ names on the top. It’s that simple,” Twombly told The Associated Press.

via buongiorno

March 23, 2010, 2:42pm  

After all the drama that went on for what feels like forever, the Fisher’s art collection will now have a place to lay it’s weery head, SFMOMA.  Yes, we knew this before, but the fancy press release I just got makes it way more official.

The first public presentation of the celebrated Fisher Collection, one of the world’s foremost private collections of contemporary art, will be presented by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) from June 25 through September 19, 2010. SFMOMA recently announced an unprecedented partnership with Doris and the late Donald Fisher, founders of the Gap, to provide a home at the museum for their outstanding collection of more than 1,100 works, most of which have never been displayed publicly. This sweeping exhibition, entitled Calder to Warhol: Introducing The Fisher Collection, will offer an extraordinary preview of the depth, breadth, and quality of the Fisher holdings, with iconic works by Alexander Calder, Chuck Close, Sam Francis, Philip Guston, Anselm Kiefer, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, Wayne Thiebaud, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, and many others.

Read more here…

January 14, 2010, 1:33pm  

Cy Twombly at MOCA

November 15, 2009, 5:19pm  

One of Damien Hirst’s paintings that is up at the Wallace Collection now.

I had the hardest time finding an article that didn’t have a picture of Hirst with the paintings. How telling.

Very dark paintings are difficult to read in pictures (especially over the internet) but my first reaction is too Bacon-y.  It reminds me of when Julian Schnabel trys to be Cy Twombly, kind of depressing and lacking.

October 14, 2009, 2:32pm  

Visitor looking at Cy Twombly’s Lepanto, 2001

I can never get enough. Ever.

August 17, 2009, 12:09pm  

Somehow they missed my boots/leggings/tunic/jacket uniform for the Vanity Fair’s International Best-Dressed List…AGAIN…But I like to think that in my place, they put Cy Twombly, which I am very ok with, because that man can rock suspenders like no other.

Next year Graydon, next year.

August 12, 2009, 9:12am  

Jan Fabre I had to break down a part of the ceiling of the Royal Palace because there was something growing out of it. 2008

I will admit I’m pretty jaded.  It takes a lot to get any sort of reaction out of me when it comes to art, much less a physical one.  I can count on both hands the times I have been truly moved by a piece of art I have seen for the first time.  The first time I saw a Jackson Pollack, Ad Reinhardt and Cy Twombly come to mine and those were years ago.  Recently, the only thing that really comes to mine is new the Chris Burden Beam Drop Brazil, until last night when this* landed in my inbox. 

I was immediately taken. Maybe even shocked. Why? It’s not like I have never encountered a piece of art with the portrayal of a nude body or one that looks like it could be dead.  I still can’t quite put my finger on what it is.  The pose? The colored beetle shells? The juxtaposition of what looks like a dead, nude male face down on a sumptuous looking carpet that is actually beetle shells?  I’m working on it.  However, I hope this does something for you because I honestly can’t remember the last time it has taken me over 24 hours to form an opinion on a piece of art. I haven’t even seen the piece in person** or even know what the full installation looks like. 

*The press release is barely comprehendable.  Someone had too much fun w/ a Thesaurus. The jist, it has to do with the body, metamorphosis, and it will be shown at the Venice Biennale this year.

**Richard Branson’s PR people: hit me up, we could do wonders together.

May 12, 2009, 1:23pm  

Cy Twombly (Painting)

January 24, 2009, 12:09pm