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by noema 1596 days ago
Google WW2, the Berlin Wall, Crystal Pepsi, Walmart, Donald Trump and then you may understand why Warhol reflects the contemporary zeitgeist and academic neoclassical art does not. (By the way, Twombly is totally unlike those other two artists. There is in fact a subtle classicism to his work.)
1 comments

> There is in fact a subtle classicism to his work.

Please enlighten me. The man made literal scribbles:

https://youtu.be/X-nJNcE4uKs

Anyone with functioning eyes ought to watch that and be able to immediately see that the "expert" is not wearing any clothing. They've got classical violin music playing to add a sense of prestige, it's grotesque. It would be more appropriate to accompany the video with "zen music"[0], the musical analog to twombly's work: https://youtu.be/uOOtJcWAk-A

[0]: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13248549

His work is often read as an archaic, pre-verbal poetics of the classical world: https://www.bastian-gallery.com/ausstellungen/cy-twombly-a-m... The scribblings draw from the walls of Pompeii, soft whites and blood reds evoke a certain Greco-Roman pallette etc. Scribbles but more than scribbles.

He was actually criticized for not adhering to postmodernist scripture: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/10...

See also: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691170725/re...