Cy Twombly
dal 24/9/2009 al 18/12/2009
Segnalato da
24/9/2009
Cy Twombly
Gagosian Gallery, Athens
Gagosian inaugurates a new venue in Athens with an exhibition of new paintings by Cy Twombly entitled 'Leaving Paphos Ringed With Waves'. The group of 4 canvases that comprises the exhibition is inspired by a quote from the 7th century B.C. choral lyric poet Alkman. Twombly used it previously in the ten-part Coronation of Sesostris (2000), which charts the energetic course and eventual demise of the Pharaonic warrior, Sesostris II. The recurring boat ideograph in Twombly's work is a figure for passage and exile, voyaging and homecoming, death and imperial decline.
'Lines have a great effect on paintings. They give great emphasis. There's a line in Alkman 'Leaving Paphos ringed with waves.' [...] It's central to me. I'm a Mediterranean painter.' Cy Twombly
On September 25, 2009, Gagosian will inaugurate a new venue in Athens, Greece with an exhibition of new paintings by Cy Twombly entitled "Leaving Paphos Ringed With Waves." Twombly has made many significant exhibitions with Gagosian Gallery and was the subject of an important European retrospective survey "Cy Twombly: Cycles and Seasons" initiated by Tate Modern, London in 2008, which travelled to the Guggenheim Bilbao and Museum of Modern Art Rome in 2009. Two major museum exhibitions "Cy Twombly: The Natural World, Selected Works 2000-2007," that inaugurated the new wing of The Art Institute of Chicago and "Cy Twombly: Sensations of the Moment" at Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, run until October 11, 2009. An exhibition of new bronze sculptures will open at Gagosian Gallery New York in September.
The group of four canvases that comprises the Athens exhibition is inspired by a quote from the 7th century B.C. choral lyric poet Alkman. Twombly used it previously in the ten-part Coronation of Sesostris (2000), which charts the energetic course and eventual demise of the Pharaonic warrior, Sesostris II. Twombly's abbreviation of the original line announces the departure from Paphos, a city sacred to the goddess Aphrodite. The recurring boat ideograph in Twombly's work is a figure for passage and exile, voyaging and homecoming, death and imperial decline. In these paintings he imparts startling new vigor to the motif and its accompanying script in hot vermilions and rich yellows against expanses of vivid turquoise sea.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue with essays by British art historian Mary Jacobus and Demosthenes Davvetas, a poet and art critic.
Born in 1928 in Lexington, Virginia, Cy Twombly studied art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1947–49); the Art Students League, New York (1950–51); and Black Mountain College, North Carolina (1951–52). In the mid 1950s, following travels in Europe and Africa, he emerged as a prominent figure among a group of artists working in New York that included Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. In 1959, Twombly settled permanently in Italy. In 1968, the Milwaukee Art Center mounted his first retrospective. This was followed by major retrospectives at the Kunsthaus Zürich (1987) travelling to Madrid, London and Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1994) travelling to Houston, Los Angeles, and Berlin; and the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich (2006). In 1995, the Cy Twombly Gallery opened at The Menil Collection, Houston, exhibiting works made by the artist since 1954. The European retrospective "Cy Twombly: Cycles and Seasons" opened at the Tate Modern, London in June 2008, with subsequent versions at the Guggenheim Bilbao and the Museum of Modern Art in Rome in 2009. "Cy Twombly: The Natural World, Selected Works 2000–2007" is on view at The Art Institute of Chicago, concurrent with another major survey "Sensations of the Moment" at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna. The exhibition "Eight Sculptures" opens at Gagosian Gallery, New York on September 15, 2009. Twombly lives in Lexington, Virginia and Italy.
For further press inquiries please contact
Fivos Sakalis at fivos@fivos-sakalis.gr or at +30.210.64.22.849.
For all other information please contact
Meredith Dunn at mdunn@gagosian.com or at +30.210.36.40.215
Opening: Friday, September 25th from 11 to 6pm
Gagosian Gallery
3 Merlin Street, Athens
Hours: Mon-Fri 11-6 & Sat by appointment
free entry