Cy+Twombly

=Cy Twombly=

**Edwin Parker (Cy) Twombly, Jr** is an artist born in Lexington, Virginia in 1928. He is most known as a painter, he is also a sculptor. He is known as the actual first graffiti artist on the canvas. His influence in the art world helped shaped the graffiti movement. Since the early days of his artistic youth, Cy Twombly studied in the U.S., N. Africa, and Italy.

Since the early years of childhood Twombly was always interested in art. It was until at the age of 12 and by the encouragement of his parents that he would pursue his career in art. He began studying with spanish artist modern painter Pierre Daura. He continued his path to become an artist after High School and began his trainign in formal art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was also then he started to have his interest in Dada and Surrealism

= Work and Influence =



Work
His most recent paintings focus on a more controlled environment. His paintings now are what graffiti artist are to space. His paintings either show a balance of space and content or a dominance of content. Before, he came up to his now present style of art, Twombly's paintings were non representational. It was more of pure scribbles, no actual images or recognizable shapes were presented. Now, in the present time his paintings have more a clear image. He added more recognizable brushstrokes such as flowers and landscapes. An example of that art work is the work titled //The Rose III.// His sculptures come from the influence of classic forms of art. What is impressive about his sculptures is that his materials come from things that the artist found lying around. He would then assemble it together and paint it white.



Influences
The works of his sculptures seem to copy the works of Marcel Duchamp and his use of random objects he put together to form his artwork. His next influence came form the classical form of literature and culture. Greco-Roman influences also started to appear in his artwork for a great period of time. This influence gave vibrant colors to the art and took his art to greater scales. Most of it also started to display eroticism and violence, mostly of Rome's historic moments of defeat. Later on during the years of his work Cy Twombly, would later help develop the graffiti art movement. The artist started to create these doodles and sketches on his canvas years before graffiti was ever considered a form of art. To this day the artist still makes these graffiti styles of art, using calligraphy and messy brush strokes to give his work that urban feel.

Bibliography

"Cy Twombly." Cy Twombly. []

"The Art Story: Artist - Cy Twombly." The Art Story: Modern Art Movements, Artists, Ideas and Topics. []

Varnedoe, Kirk, and Cy Twombly. //Cy Twombly: a retrospective//. New York: Museum Modern Art :, 1994

 Weiss, Jeffery. "artforum.com / in print." artforum.com / home. []