Sylvae 1981

Curator: Looking at this, my first thought is: urgency. Is it the stark white background emphasizing the frenzy of lines, or is it the blood-red streaks cutting through it all? Editor: Indeed. Here we have Cy Twombly's "Sylvae", created in 1981 using mixed media including ink. It's fascinating how Twombly’s mark-making exists in this space between gesture, writing, and raw expression. Curator: Exactly. The word "Sylvae" itself scrawled almost carelessly at the top gives the viewer a place to enter. "Sylvae," from the Latin, relating to woodland, or a collection of writings, really asks us to consider how language and nature are intertwined here. Editor: Right, it invites us to consider themes of the pastoral but definitely twisted by the chaotic present. Notice the date, lower on the right: "7 Aug 81," anchors this explosion to a particular moment, as if he's trying to capture fleeting, yet intense sensations. And that intense splash of red– almost like a wound! Curator: Or the violent bloom of nature unchecked, right? Think of it in the context of art institutions in the '80s beginning to engage with contemporary theory around deconstruction. Is Twombly playing with, or maybe even undermining traditional ideas about the pastoral? Editor: It's that very tension that keeps me hooked. On the one hand we've got this allusion to classicism through the title, a traditional framework of looking at beauty and the natural world. Yet his methods are anything but polished. It's art reflecting the uneasy feeling that comes when we acknowledge society's many masks. Curator: I agree completely! It’s almost like a deconstruction of classical notions of the landscape and representation in general, reflecting the unease present within culture during the 1980s. It's not just a painting; it’s a loaded conversation. Editor: For me, reflecting on the mark of "Sylvae," is that while things look chaotic on the surface, under it all are intentional decisions. Perhaps it serves as a call-to-action to us that while a world seems to crumble, there’s intentional action ready to come alive and bring renewal.