Cy Twombly and film-making

The great Cy Twombly died recently - one of the most revered and influential American abstract painters of the past 50 years. Above my computer, i have two postcards, one of the Carl Andre Bricks (Equivalent VIII) - see it here on which i have scrawled the words 'nobody knows anything'; and a Twombly painting (Ferragosto V): - see it here on which i have scrawled the phrase 'Genius comes in many forms'. I look at both artworks often and combined with my scribble, they constantly remind me that when being creative, you must follow your own nose - don't be put off by what others say and what is often derided is more often than not accepted sooner or later. 

But i just wanted to point whoever is reading this, to see Cy Twombly's work, his history, his philosophy and if you get the chance, see his work in the flesh (and they are fleshy) you can see them at Dulwich until September 2011. I first saw his work in a retrospective at the Whitechapel in 1988 and it is the ONLY time, i have been to an exhibition and been utterly utterly blown apart by the sheer energy, and passion and visceral thrill of painting. Canvas after Canvas of erudite slashs, scribbles, rubbings out, scrawled words, classical phrases, obscured symbols, captivating brushwork pulling against tottering formal scaffolding. And i know (and have many friends) who will look at this and be appalled by the sheer childishness and crudity of what he did, and many people take comfort in the argument that 'a child of six could do that...'

All i will say is go and look, and think about what you're looking at, and if nothing else, just be carried away by the sheer thrill of these paintings. No child of six can make marks like this.

and when i am editing, and thinking of my work, i think about the layers of meaning and layers of information in Twombly's work, and how these beautiful accidents of images collide and reveal each other.  you still have to connect with an audience and that usually means having some kind of narrative and character to hang onto, but i like to think you can still sneak in the odd Twombly-esque flourish occasionally.