Alessandro Twombly

Fred Torres Collaborations is proud to present Alessandro Twombly: Works on Paper. In celebration of the second anniversary of Fred Torres Collaborations, Twombly returns for his second solo exhibition and presents new and historical works on paper. Works on Paper is on view from November 18, 2010 to January 29, 2011, at 527 West 29th Street on the third floor.

Alessandro Twombly: Works on Paper features two distinct bodies of work that are connected by Twombly’s affinity for the local, natural elements that surround him. The Turkish Coast Works on Paper (1983-84), on view in the gallery’s back room, are journal-like representations of Twombly’s travels through the rugged and ancient coastal landscape from the titled year. Twombly’s interaction with the region is portrayed in these “en plein air” studies of light and form. The layered washes of deep cool tones with occasional sparks of red and orange reveal the mindset in which Twombly approaches his work—calm at the onset with perfervid punctuation. Twombly’s hand is restrained, allowing the saturated colors to interact on the surface and reveal their own physical nature.

New works on paper portraying Twombly’s lifelong investigation of life cycles in landscape will be on view in the main gallery. Each work on paper isolates a single sweeping movement, a beautiful protrusion, the beginning of life, and the end of the world. Akin to the heralded 2008 exhibition Figures of Eros, Twombly’s new body of work draws from an almost elegiac recognition of evolution. It is tricky to determine the emotional velocity in his latest works—on one hand it seems calmly investigative and, on the other—explosive. Initially Twombly’s forms rouse the erotic imagination but upon further observation, the anatomical becomes metaphysical.

The exhibition Works on Paper includes all artworks published in Richard Milazzo's new book of poems "With Grass Ropes We Dragged the World to Her in Wooden Boats: Poems of Jordan, Syria and Egypt (2008). Published in Cumiana, Italy: Libri, Canali Bassi & Paolo Torti degli Alberti, 2010, The book is an edition of 500, with 30 additional limited edition boxes containing a set of original signed prints by Twombly. The book is on view in the front gallery space.

Alessandro Twombly, born in Rome, Italy in 1959, currently resides in the hill country north of Rome. Apart from his solo exhibitions in New York, he continues to exhibit extensively in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and South America.