Cy Twombly: The Natural World

The Cy Twombly exhibit, The Natural World, at the Art Institute divides his floral inspired works from 2000 to 2007 into a few clumps of work meant to represent the overall body of his later years. Located in the newly opened Modern Wing, the exhibit seems to be very self-conscious. Somehow, the curators have made the normally assured and unregulated work of Twombly seem tame and aseptic. His works on paper are tied down by frames, and every sculpture has a pedestal. All but one of the rooms had his works arranged perfectly symmetrical by form and color. On one door leading into the galleries, it denotes that the patron should enter the other doors so they can experience the exhibit the way it was meant to be seen: from lighter colored works on paper and sculptures at the beginning, through progressively larger and darker paintings at the end. The curation seemed so strict and opaque, it undermined the intuitive nature of the work itself. Twombly's work continues to stretch the ways we taxonimize art with combinations like photographs of sculptures and paintings/drawings, both on paper, and the continued incorporation of language. Despite the presentation, Twombly's newer works prove that after all these years, he still has not gone soft.