Cy Twombly - Apollo and The Artist

 

Edwin Parker ‘Cy’ Twombly Jr was an American artist born April 25^th 1928 in the state of Virginia, USA. He is well-known for creating simple, calligraphic styled graffiti paintings in shades of grey, blue, off-white and tan colours. His works blur the lines between drawings, writing and painting, and he is often influenced by classical myths and poetry.

This piece is called ‘Apollo and the Artist’ (1975). It was created using mixed media, and incorporates a limited colour scheme of off-white, blue and black. The background of the picture is white in colour, and two rectangular shaped pieces of paper seem to have been stuck on it: one above the other (the top being the largest). Several off-white brush strokes can be seen over the top of this white page and a light blue-white colour has been painted over these pieces of paper. At the top, the word/name ‘Apollo’ has been written in a bold, blue ink. Below this is some drawings of leaves, lines and musical notes in black ink. Across the very top of the picture is a long black arrow, pointing right, which is broken up by more unclear drawings of what appear to be musical notes or leaves.

The fact that the word/name ‘Apollo’ is written at the top of the picture suggests to me that the meaning behind the piece is related to the God that shares the name Apollo. This idea is echoed by the leaves (Apollo was often depicted wearing a wreath of laurel leaves upon his head) and the musical notes, as he was known as the god of music.

This piece links with my project because it is very much centred around the past, which is what I plan on focusing my work on (memories). Also, the use of tonal colours and the colour blue (which is a primary colour) is something I intend to use in my own work, as I feel that too much colour makes an image look unrealistic and distracting