Inspired by the work of Cy Twombly, Something to Remember Me By explores artistic influence, lifelong learning, and the quiet hope that a work of art might continue speaking long after its creator is gone.
A day or two before beginning this painting, I watched a documentary on the life and work of Cy Twombly. I found myself particularly drawn to his early years at Black Mountain College—the experimentation, restraint, and visual language that seemed to hover somewhere between memory, archaeology, and handwriting. Around the same time, I had finished Elliot Earls' book How to Become an Excellent Designer, in which he advocates a simple but demanding discipline: study the work you admire, imitate it as a means of learning, and only later, after years of practice, speak entirely in your own voice.
After seven years of painting, I still consider myself a student. Something to Remember Me By was my humble attempt to develop a few Cy Twombly chops, should I ever need them. Yet as I worked, another thought surfaced: perhaps this canvas might outlive me and hang on someone's wall decades from now. Obviously, the title emerged naturally..
Subtle marks, symbols, and gestural forms drift across a luminous field, suggesting fragments of memory, coded language, or traces left behind for future travelers to discover.
• 36x24x1.5 in.
• Acrylic paint, crayon, pastel and pencil on canvas
