Question about Rothko

Joe Underwood, asked me the following question about a Mark Rothko painting.

“Hi Tom. Can you explain to me how to appreciate these colored rectangles. I have some difficulty with some abstract art, but simple pieces like these give me the most trouble.

Joe, I’ll give it a try, and I thought I’d share what I say to others on my blog, because you are not the only one that feels this way.

First, you don’t have to like it, and that is very important. There are two parts to great art, one is the well seasoned opinions and commentary of many in the art field as to which artists stand out, and the other is whether you the viewer like them or not.

I appreciate great artists, but don’t LIKE most of them for one reason or another. And the ones I do love, often have paintings that I don’t care for, while other paintings of theirs, I just adore. I also often like bad paintings for one reason or another, and that’s fine too.

So not liking any artist or any painting is your personal choice. But I think it is also important to understand why many think a painter is worthy of appreciation whether you and I like or don’t like them And many do think Rothko is a very great painter.

So now we come to the other part. Whether you like him or not, the question is; why do others appreciate this artist and his work. What do they see in it that is worthy.

First I wrote this short essay for all people who have questions about any abstract art. https://musea.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/short-essay-on-abstract-art/

This will show you how painters can put a great amount of emotion and feeling into an abstract painting.

BTW, I paint both abstracts and realism, and abstracts are just as difficult or sometimes harder. For example, with great abstract works, every inch of the painting has to work together. You don’t have to do that with realism. I think abstract works are very difficult, and I think most so called abstract artists are not very good!

Now back to Mark Rothko. He is one of my favorites, and I think I can tell you why. I’ve even painted in that manner and will add an example later.

Google Mark Rothko. Now press the Images button up near the top. What you will see is a lot of his works. Take a look at the page and maybe the next and the next after.

There is a lot of color there. With some paintings the color works together to make a harmonious painting. Some the colors clash and make a more upsetting painting.
If I asked you to find the most cheerful painting on the page could you? What about the most dreary? I bet you could, because color and shape can do that.

Rothko didn’t start out with these blocks of color. That developed. His early work is not my favorite. It doesn’t really stand out from any of the other painters in that style. But I love much of this later work, like the piece that started this conversation.

First of all his paintings are big. And like many meditative things, they are simple, and for me and many others, profound, zen like, spiritual. The blocks and the field of color they seem to float in, could symbolize ying and yang, male and female, light and dark, yes and no, etc., but whatever you see, there is something more than just color to his best paintings .

Finally imagine this. You go to a chapel to meditate. Behind the altar is a large painting. It is big enough to envelope your eyes so that that is most all you see. You kneel and look up.

Which would lend itself to a more reflective experience, one of Rothko’s paintings with these huge nebulous blocks of floating color, or say a realistic portrait of a religious figure?

Take your favorite from these 3 pages of his works, and imagine that in your mind, full sized, behind the altar of the chapel. What do you think?

Hope this helps,
Tom

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Painting History and Smiles

I’ve read books on art history but no one talks about smiles.
It took centuries before painters allowed subjects to smile in their portraits. The evolution of smiles in painting is a key development in art.

Last Moment of Modern Art?

THE LAST MINUTE OF MODERN ART (reprint from Musea)

Can CONCEPTUAL ART be used to end the abuses of conceptual art?

It all began this way. I was walking home from a taco place and thinking about Martin Creed and his Art Prize. He won the annual Turner Prize that goes to the best art work from a British artist yonger than 50. The prize was a check for $31,500 that was handed to him by Madonna.

And what was his art? Now this is hard to even say – even let the words sputter out of my mouth. The reason being I, too, am an artist. I have been one for decades, have studied and copied the masters, done work in almost every media (pencil, acrylics, and colored pencils are my favorites). And I worked hard to have some scope to my art whether portraits, landscapes, still lifes, abstracts, or just about everything in between. I love the stuff. I breathe art. I love to know everything there is to know about art and artists.

So what was HIS art? He got the yard-wide novelty check from Madonna (representing a couple years of my income) for his exhibit of flashing light bulbs in an empty room! (His previous works include a scrunched- up piece of paper and a ball of clay stuck to a wall).

British art curator Simon Wilson notes: “He wants to make art where he is doing as little as possible that is consistent with doing something. The fact that many people find his work so baffling indicates that he’s working on the edge.”
Oh I see. Now I am getting it. Now I am figuring out the “NEW” rules. Creed himself comments, “If I can make something without adding any objects, I feel more comfortable.”

And then it DAWNED ON ME. I would bring modern art to its end. I would suggest the ultimate. The ultimate in baffling minimalism. I would get the ‘plastic’ check from Madonna.

So on TUESDAY 1/08/02, at 1:30-1:40 PM, as I, Tom Hendricks, was walking home from the taco place, I took art to its ultimate. This was the last minute of modern art. It could go no further. Where Creed had flashing lights in an empty room, I would … IMAGINE A GALLERY IN MY MIND THAT WOULD HAVE NO LIGHTS ON AT ALL! And that moment marked the end of modern art.

For all information see: tomhendricks.us

Banned Book Week – How About Banned Half of the Town – Dallas

This is my letter to Half Price Books, concerning their Banned Book Week Announcement.

Half of Dallas has been ‘banned’ . The 25 years of my zine Musea proves that.

Dear Half Price Books,

The perfect example of banned books is right here in Dallas.

Since 1992 the progressive arts and media zine, Musea, published monthly,

has been ‘banned’ from every media source in the city.

You probably have never heard coverage of any of our 200 issues

or the musicians, painters, writers, filmmakers, photographers, and indie media sources

we have talked about over the years.

You have probably not heard of the hundreds of progressive ideas in the arts and media

that Musea has suggested to improve every aspect of the arts and media.

The 200th issue of Musea was also an underground history of Dallas from 1992-2017.

Read 100 pages of the Dallas that has been ‘banned’.

200th Issue

http://www.musea.us/Musea200.htm

Tom Hendricks

(musician, painter, writer, and editor of the 24 year old zine Musea)

MAIN Website

http://tomhendricks.us/

The River (two versions)

The River

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