Rothko Wants You In Your Feelings
Trap, TrapMoneyBenny. This shit got me in my feelings.
• Go big or go home. Mark Rothko chose to create large canvases because the intimate, intense effect he wanted to create for the viewer. The canvas just envelops you and heightens all emotion. Looking at a smaller canvas, you still feel like you’re looking in on something. But when you’re standing in front of a large Rothko canvas, you somehow become part of it. Or if you’re me, you want to sit on a museum bench and stare at it all day.
• Rothko actually recommend that viewers stand just 18 inches away from his art to maximize those intimate transcendent vibes. Don't try this at your local museum or gallery though, you'll get yelled at. Yes, I tried it.
• Rothko wanted the drama. His art was all about connecting to human emotion, not the symbolism of the color or meaning of abstract forms.
• “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.” - Rothko
• You’ve got to see a Rothko in person because his rectangular blocks of color really do have this hovering, glowing quality. He created this effect by painting with multiple washes of thin paint.
“No. 14, 1960” by Mark Rothko, 1960 at SF MOMA