Untitled c. 1950s

This untitled work is one of Cy Twombly’s many explorations in mark-making, made with pencil on paper. It’s like he set out to capture the essence of pure energy. Look at how the scribbled lines build up, dense and chaotic, contained within a barely-there rectangular boundary. I can almost feel the rhythm of his hand, the scratch of the pencil, and the build-up of graphite on the page. Maybe he was feeling trapped, I can imagine the frustration, the desire to break free. The texture is amazing - like a field of tangled thoughts made visible. It reminds me of the work of other abstract painters like Agnes Martin or even Brice Marden. I think artists are always in dialogue, borrowing, stealing, and transforming ideas. It’s an endless conversation, a game of telephone across generations. With painting, there is always a dance between intention and accident. A painter throws something at the canvas, and the canvas throws something back.