Rothko

Things are really picking up here at Mr. Sunshine. Indeed I have been encouraged to author a new post by my one and only commenter, KB. Well, you’re in luck lady, ’cause I’ve got a few things to say. 

To start, I’ve been thinking about art, as usual. I’ve always thought about Rothko’s distaste for how the wealthy bought art. He didn’t like that his work was being collected because it became the fashionable thing to do for folks with extra money. He’d be real disappointed in that episode of Mad Men where the big boss hung a Rothko in his office because someone advised him this was the latest thing in art and everyone, including him, kind of grimaced when they saw it and didn’t really get it. He basically bought it because it was expensive and trendy, but that’s why a lot of people collect art. Rothko wasn’t real happy with his new-found fame and had a few other major problems so one day he killed himself. Whether you like Rothko’s work or not you have to admit he was genuine. He wasn’t a poser who was after fame and money. He never really thought about either, it just happened as a byproduct of his dedication and work. Francis Bacon said he didn’t get Rothko’s stuff because he saw the Rothko Chapel and thought it was really depressing sitting in front of those big paintings with the dark colors. That was his thing though, he was painting a feeling and sadness was a big part of the later years. I’m not an expert though. I’m not even the biggest Rothko fan but I’m always drawn to the genuine artists, the ones who end up making the biggest splash without really having that as their goal. I think he really was pushing himself to the edge to find what he thought was art. Part of that struggle is dealing with critics and seeing your work become trendy. Once it’s popular it isn’t taken serious anymore. After Hemmingway had success with The Sun Also Rises he would go to places where wealthy folks gathered and give readings. He didn’t care for that. Didn’t think it was a great reward for all his work. Later, as Dennis Miller put it, he “speckled his ceiling with his cerebellum”. These people who were so dedicated often get depressed when they see what the world does with their work. I think a real artist is genuinely interested in doing a good thing for the world. Offering them art. But then the world uses their work to sell things or attaches it to ideas they weren’t a part of and it kills them.

But once again, what’s my point? I’m always struggling with the point of art. Rothko said, “I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on.” I like that. I like the idea of painting one thing for the purpose of expressing something else. Its more evolved than the way most work is approached. We tend to think we’ve made lots of progress in technology but we never add the problems created along the way into the equation. We love the invention of the car but “Lord, Mr. Ford, what have ya done?” Every year around 44,000 people die prematurely due to the horseless carriage. We can get places faster but this just made us place things like stores and hospitals farther apart. Looking at the big picture, with traffic and wars over oil and so on, the automobile hasn’t made the big improvement we think it has. Sure, I’ve cruised down the PCH on a beautiful summer day and marveled at how great life is, but I’ve also spent countless hours in traffic trying to get to work and being miserable and angry on daily basis. How did I get on this tangent? The point is Rothko wanted to make art for the reasons he thought art should be made, to express basic human emotions. Instead of doing what had been done in the past, painting religious scenes or moody portraits, he found his own path. I can’t explain why I painted the things I’ve painted but it’s something along the lines of what Rothko was talking about. Basic, raw human emotions, but not from any kind of scenes or faces painted doing the emotion I’m trying to convey. Something that comes about by accident that you can’t explain or duplicate on every canvas. That’s why most of my paintings have failed. I’m trying to do more than paint a realistic figure and put together pretty color schemes. Hopefully if I ever do get to the point where I’m knocking them out of the park every time I won’t become rich and famous. I’d be horrified. I wouldn’t kill myself but I’d probably end up a recluse afraid to leave the studio.