TateShots Issue 16 - Rothko

This Autumn Tate Modern presents an exhibition of the late works of Mark Rothko. The show’s curator, Achim Borchardrt-Hume, takes us on a tour featuring the iconic Seagram Murals, Black-Form paintings, and the Black on Grey paintings – the last series made before Rothko’s death in 1970.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Rothko
• Tate
• Art

[jeffreycollins]

Rothko would have been extremely pissed off at the Tate if he knew that they were hanging his paintings so high off the ground. He always wanted his paintings to be seen at a lower more human level as opposed to looking at a work of art like some kind of altar.

[chandru1103]

You are looking for there to be a physical "something" to bring you some idea of what the work is about i.e.symbols, iconography. These Haunt you. When you see them in person they really are raw human emotions made with paint. They are so raw, in fact, that I have a physical response to them...mainly goosebumps and chills. They really are significant in the sense that he was a master of color theory. For me, he is the pinnacle of Abstract Art.

[VasilisBotoulas]

watch?v=VSdxqIBfEAw  :)

[jpapare]

@jeffreycollins You are so right about this show having been hung too high. They are uncomfortably high, even higher from the floor than one would normally hang work this size. It kind of rings of a curator becoming more important than the works of art.

[sunlogosis]

@bassmajor was rocking back and forth and had to step back. after that i finally "got it ". this is what i want art to do for me. i want it to capture me and give me that euphoric feeling of serenity or whatever it is meant to do for the veiwer. Rothkos paintings are like a glimpse of the soul to me or a religious painting. ill never forget that exact feeling, it was great. when i look at art or make art, that feeling is what i go for. if i dont get it i scrap the art im doing. i love rothko.

[sunlogosis]

@bassmajor in 2004 i went to madrid with my teacher to buy guitars and look at all the guitar shops and makers. i wanted to go to the museums bc i had never been to a museum (bc ima bonafide trailer parker). so im in the bornemiza museo and looking at all the art. i walk past the rothko there and i thought, what?! this is art!? so i had to figure out why it is art. i walk up to it about 2 ft away and immediately i felt like i was being overwhelmed. it literally pulls you into the painting,...

[bassmajor]

@chandru1103

well said! I remember standing in front of a rothko painting looking at it and being unable to move... His art is really beyond words. I'm always upset on people saying "huuh? I could do that, too but would you care?" It's like with the egg of columbus. There has to be one who does it... and think about when he did this... I think that hardly anyone back in the beginning of the 20th century was thinking about art like this.

[t7g6s8]

i agree. i personally think when one ridicules another the first person (the ridiculer) does not realize they are actually (symbolically) pointing out flaws in themselves.

[tkduane18]

everytime i read a comment about modern art being a joke and a waste of money i think of sports... how much do athletes get paid and what truly great things are they doing for the world? why is it so wrong for artists to get big paychecks? tiger is worth how many millions because he's really really really good at... uh... golf? wtf

[tzeqin]

@chandru - You are right, he is great at making us aware of basic design principles and translating them into fine art.

I've seen his stuff and got goosebumps too. But I blame the air-conditioning.

[tzeqin]

@planetlennie. Yeps, it's called 'marketing'.

[tzeqin]

@bakeratlas - I am studying to be part of this whole money-burning industry and sometimes I do agree with you too. But at least it gives more value to the world in terms of fulfillment and wonder than the even more $guzzling military industry. I'd rather an idiot who 'appreciates' art than the next trigger-happy idiot who grunts for fun.