Cy Twombly: Sign, Meta-Sign and Sense
In a 1979 article on the work of the American painter Cy Twombly, Roland Barthes writes “TW [Twombly] refers to writing (as he also often refers to culture, through words), and then he goes off somewhere else.” This article starts from the question of where or what this “somewhere else” might be, to...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
2016-12-01
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Series: | Sillages Critiques |
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Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/4671 |
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author | Johanna Malt |
author_facet | Johanna Malt |
author_sort | Johanna Malt |
collection | DOAJ |
description | In a 1979 article on the work of the American painter Cy Twombly, Roland Barthes writes “TW [Twombly] refers to writing (as he also often refers to culture, through words), and then he goes off somewhere else.” This article starts from the question of where or what this “somewhere else” might be, towards which Cy Twombly heads on leaving behind cultural and linguistic meaning. I propose that it is towards something logically prior to, on in a sense “behind” signification that Cy Twombly directs his attention, and that phenomenology offers us a way of approaching this ground. Via an analysis of the effect of layering in several paintings from the early 1960s, I argue that, in this layering, signification via the presence of text becomes just another category of object to be called forth, or rather, another mode of relation to the world which the painting investigates in its meta-reflection on relationality as meaning. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-22T21:54:26Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-4fc9ef6a4b7b4a55bb9c2538e10fcc86 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1272-3819 1969-6302 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-22T21:54:26Z |
publishDate | 2016-12-01 |
publisher | Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" |
record_format | Article |
series | Sillages Critiques |
spelling | doaj.art-4fc9ef6a4b7b4a55bb9c2538e10fcc862022-12-21T18:11:17ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022016-12-0121Cy Twombly: Sign, Meta-Sign and SenseJohanna MaltIn a 1979 article on the work of the American painter Cy Twombly, Roland Barthes writes “TW [Twombly] refers to writing (as he also often refers to culture, through words), and then he goes off somewhere else.” This article starts from the question of where or what this “somewhere else” might be, towards which Cy Twombly heads on leaving behind cultural and linguistic meaning. I propose that it is towards something logically prior to, on in a sense “behind” signification that Cy Twombly directs his attention, and that phenomenology offers us a way of approaching this ground. Via an analysis of the effect of layering in several paintings from the early 1960s, I argue that, in this layering, signification via the presence of text becomes just another category of object to be called forth, or rather, another mode of relation to the world which the painting investigates in its meta-reflection on relationality as meaning.http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/4671abstract expressionismartMaurice Merleau-PontyJean-Luc Nancypaintingphenomenology |
spellingShingle | Johanna Malt Cy Twombly: Sign, Meta-Sign and Sense Sillages Critiques abstract expressionism art Maurice Merleau-Ponty Jean-Luc Nancy painting phenomenology |
title | Cy Twombly: Sign, Meta-Sign and Sense |
title_full | Cy Twombly: Sign, Meta-Sign and Sense |
title_fullStr | Cy Twombly: Sign, Meta-Sign and Sense |
title_full_unstemmed | Cy Twombly: Sign, Meta-Sign and Sense |
title_short | Cy Twombly: Sign, Meta-Sign and Sense |
title_sort | cy twombly sign meta sign and sense |
topic | abstract expressionism art Maurice Merleau-Ponty Jean-Luc Nancy painting phenomenology |
url | http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/4671 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT johannamalt cytwomblysignmetasignandsense |