Back outside, and believe me it's freezing out there! I have been noticing how much it's the colors on top of colors and the colors between the colors that make the vibration. This one has small pieces of success... not completely though.
Read his words:
"I’m not an abstractionist. I’m not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on."
"The fact that people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions. The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when painting them. And if you say you are moved only by their color relationships then you miss the point."
What do you think?
13 comments:
thanks a lot for the rothko quote. tracy helgeson's paintings haven't made me cry, but her humming layers of color are why i bought 2 paintings. that and her half-off sale. :0)
Monet makes me cry. At one exhibition I visited in Las Vegas some years ago I cried so much that I needed to keep wiping the tears in order to see the paintings. People were staring at me but I didn't care.
Lucky you Sam! Tracy's work s awesome. Rothko's work just glows. He was an unusual man. Some call him secretive. He would actually hide his brushes and materials when people came to visit his studio. When asked questions he was quoted as to say, "Silence is so eloquent." He's probably right...some of us just talk too much;-)
Anita,
I agree, Monet makes me cry too. It's OK to feel.
Great post Loriann. You picked quite a day to go outside, but I know you're used to it.
I think you are a descendant.
I think any work that moves us on this visceral and spiritual level can makes us cry, non-representational or not.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/dec/12/mark-rothko-red-william-boyd
Hi Brian, Thanks about the post. It takes a nut to know another;-)
Hi Karen...a descendant of what??? hmmmmm
Emotion is really the goal.... don't you think?
PS It's good to have you back from Mexico!
Hi Adam, great link.. Some of it is very true.. some a little stretched. One very true piece is De Kooning was the real genius of that abstract expressionist group. He was NEVER satisfied and was a true fox. But most of all I love the fox/hedgehog metaphor. I thought for awhile about each movement of art categorizing foxes and hedgehogs. Funny.
Thanks for sharing.
Rothko's work, in person, raises the hair on my arms...in a good way. I find his work so powerful; he is one of my all-time favorite artists.
I also feel "possessed by color." If I could choose only one aspect of art to pursue for the rest of my life, it would be color without a moment's hesitation. Hey, it already IS color!
Your trees above remind me of Monet's haystacks!
P.S. I admit to being perpetually a bit pissed off at Rothko for being so secretive about his actual techniques.
Jala,
Rothko's work is powerful. I always wonder how his use of color effects our brains. And I agree with you , the pursuit of color/feeling is what it is all about.
It's good to have you back commenting on blogger. I really enjoyed your posts from India.
PS I finally did find some info about Rothko's work and materials.
Please share!
Jala, i'll contact you ok?
Cool. No hurry.
Post a Comment