Rothko

The Abstract Expressionist movement has broadened our sense of meaning for art today, but I have a difficult time appreciating some of the pieces artists from this time period are famous for. Mark Rothko, for example, is one of the pioneers of abstract expressionism from his success with color-fill paintings. Seeing his work in textbooks doesn’t do the paintings justice. When I first learned about him I wondered why on earth we were wasting time studying rectangular canvases with sloppy, colored squares. I have never seen a Rothko in person before, but judging by the massive scale and sensational colors of most of his paintings, I can only imagine the emotion that I would encounter. I decided to research Rothko because I don’t give him much credit for his paintings, as art historians and critics like Clement Greenberg do. Originally, I wanted to focus on one of his earlier works because of their abstract and primitive quality, but as I was browsing through some of his works there was one that immediately caught my attention.  

                No. 7 Orange and Chocolate has one of my favorite qualities in a painting: complimentary colors. This piece is one of Rothko’s later works from 1957 and is 70”x 44”. When I look at this painting, I feel as if I’m in a state of trance; I am hypnotized by the strangely vibrant yellow rectangle. However, I also can’t help but absorb the tension between the three segments because of not only their contrast, but because their soft and uneven edges are just barely touching one another. I am extremely fascinated with this piece. Its color is haunting because it envelops everything I see and I am lost in the perplexity of it.

                In the article “Painting the Page” written by Simon Morley from the University of Southampton, he explains that Rothko’s objective was not for his viewers to analyze his work formally by shape, texture and subject matter, but to have an emotional experience with the “fundamentally tragic” imagery. He explains that Rothko explores the extreme and harsh reality of the modern man. I found this very interesting because Rothko’s color filled paintings definitely give off a dramatic and almost haunting vibe. Morley mentions an article written by Robert Rosenburg called the “Abstract Sublime”, where he argues that modernist art bloomed from the sublimation and essences of awe and terror, branching from Romanticism. This ties back in to Morley’s point that Rothko’s work is based on the modern man. Rosenblum wrote, “These infinite glowing [levels of mysterious light] carry us beyond reason to the Sublime; we can only submit to them in an act of faith and let ourselves be absorbed into their radiant depths”. The way he moved the paint on the canvas, leaving edges un even and faded gives the painting a presence; as if there is something concealed within it, but we don’t know exactly what it is and it won’t be the same for anyone. The viewer is not forced to have a specific experience with subjective imagery, which is exactly what Rothko was going for. Each luminous block of color represents something, but it is up to the viewer to figure out its secret.

Bibliography:

Simon Morley, “Painting the Page,” Journal of Visual Arts Practice Volume 8, Numbers 1 and 2 (2009): 152, accessed May 23, 2012, http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.lib.cwu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4298384b-40f3-42d8-bbea-452c7b077ba2%40sessionmgr115&vid=1&hid=111

Robert Rosenblum, “The Abstract Sublime,” Art News Magazine. No access online. Found article on May 23, 2012 through alternate source, http://www.empireofglass.com/abstract_sublime.pdf