Mark Rothko, born this day in 1903 was an artist whose works move the mind and spirit. His iconic pieces draw the observer deeply into the field. The colour, the emotion, the incredible depth of texture and density, somehow flow with fragility.
The often large-scale works we know best are his late works, coming out of the post-war period which was hugely influenced by his heritage and the turmoil of the time. Not only about colour, mood and power, they have emotional, spiritual physicality which become evident with time and study.
Rothko gave an address to the Pratt Institute in November of 1958. In it, he interestingly stepped away from his previous ideas when he discussed art as a trade;
"[the] recipe of a work of art - its ingredients - how to make it - the formula.
1. There must be a clear preoccupation with death - intimations of mortality... Tragic art, romantic art, etc., deals with the knowledge of death.
2. Sensuality. Our basis of being concrete about the world. It is a lustful relationship to things that exist.
3. Tension. Either conflict or curbed desire.
4. Irony, This is a modern ingredient - the self-effacement and examination by which a man for an instant can go on to something else.
5. Wit and play... for the human element.
6. The ephemeral and chance... for the human element.
7. Hope. 10% to make the tragic concept more endurable.
I measure these ingredients very carefully when I paint a picture. It is always the form that follows these elements and the picture results from the proportions of these elements."
(Achim Borchardt-Hume (ed.). Rothko (London: Tate Gallery, 2008), p. 91)
I am left wondering how to move forward from this emotionally reactive moment. Even a passing glance at the iconic blurred blocks draws me in. Rothko said that the images possessed their own life force, that they contained a "breath of life", that they were filled with possibility.
The culmination of Rothko's work, the darkly formidable yet reassuringly meditative Rothko Chapel was completed in 1971 the year after the artist's death. He sadly never saw it's completion as the world's first 'broadly ecumenical' center, a holy place open to all religions and belonging to none. A worship space now visited by over 100,000 people heach year. It is a bucket list destination for me. One day maybe...
© onwardsandsideways September 2024
Komentáře