Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

I really don't get the genius of Rothko. What am I missing?

Easy on the eyes.

I put that banner up today after having another one up by Matisse which was a woman sitting at a table with lots of items on the table and plants around her. Very nice painting... however... it was cluttering my head.... and when I put this Rothko banner up, I was like... Ahhhhh! Whew! I felt so much better.

I like clean lines, simple colors.... for decorating, for instance. This painting by Rothko would go great in my living room where I have an off-white couch and love seat, a black grand piano and black coffee table & end tables. It's just SHARP... sophisticated... modern. Chic.

And it makes my mind go.... Ahhhhhh!

But I don't know why he's considered a genius either. I just like the simple style. Is he really considered a genius? hmmmm

maybe not a genius, but among the "great painters," perhaps. my sister studied his work as part of her art history degree.

to me, he's some pleasant colors to hang on a wall. you know, "decorative" . . . done plenty of finger paintings myself along those lines . . .

what do I know . .

Mostly, he did large splashes of color, yeah. I don't think it looks at all like finger painting, though. But I agree that it's a style for interior decorating.

Maybe his works are studied in Art History classes because he was bold enough to paint such a simplistic style which represented a change in an era or something. I never thought he was considered one of the "great painters" ... well respected, yeah, but great? But maybe I'm wrong.

Here's the Wikipedia article about him
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rothko

thanks for the link. interesting guy. sounds like critics weren't too wowed at first either.

enjoyed this part . . . "In 1936, Rothko began writing a book, never completed, about similarities in the art of children and the work of modern painters. According to Rothko, the work of modernists, influenced by primitive art, could be compared to that of children in that "child art transforms itself into primitivism . . . "

I used to "finger paint" using chalk. still have them around somewhere. think I posted one or two a few years back. . .

ah, but Rothko is magnificent.
In order to appreciate him, stand in front one of his huge canvases and let the power surround you.

This is not something that can be experienced from a book or computer page.

His idea was deconstructing art into form and colour - minimalism creating maximum effect.

(after him came andy warhol, the antithesis of rothko's direction)

There was a marvellous exhibit in the Tel Aviv Art Museum a few years ago. His son and daughter (along with some artist-students of his) came to speak before the opening of the Exhibit.
Fascinating man, working together with musicians for the opening of his Chapel.

but as i mentioned, the force of his work needs to be experienced face to face.

still - the banner is charming and evocative of what the large piece says.

Thx Judih, for that comment. I was going to say something about what I had heard from those who have done what you were fortunate to have done - stood before a Rothko and be absorbed into the colorfield before you... a luminosity... a feeling of floating... a mind altering experience, if you allow the Rothko to speak to you.

Someday... someday... I may be able to stand before even one to truly know the experience.

not too much idea about Rothko but I love today´s banner!

ah, but Rothko is magnificent.
In order to appreciate him, stand in front one of his huge canvases and let the power surround you.

What judih said!!! The simple beauty, the lines of color, the "ahhh" of it makes me serene. (like Dor said also.)

I still don't quite get the Rothko thing. some day I will.. it's coming.

Not all artists are favored, no matter the name.

But, even tho I haven't seen a Rothko in person, I know the work transcends any intellectualizing, at least for myself. Erase the mind and go into the painting(s)... that is all that is required. simple, eh?

Here's a couple of paintings that may interest you -


Frans Kline -



... and Cy Twombly -

I use to have a hard time with his work until I actually saw a few of them at MOMA and I was amazed at the subtlety of the fields fading in and out of each other...it was then that I started really began to understand the abexers as being a direct reflection and inspiration to the post war urban vision.