Cy Twombly, Venus, 1975.

From Roland Barthes, “Cy Twombly, Works on Paper” (translated by Richard Howard):  ”the essence of writing is neither a form nor a usage but only a gesture, the gesture which produces it by permitting it to linger:  a blur, almost a blotch, a negligence.  Let us make a comparison.  What is the essence of a pair of pants (if it has such a thing)?  Certainly not that crisp and well-pressed object to be found on department-store racks;  rather, that clump of fabric on the floor, negligently dropped there when the boy stepped out of them, careless, lazy, indifferent.  The essence of an object has some relation with its destruction:  not necessarily what remains after it has been used up, but what is thrown away as being of no use.”

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