It's those proverbial responses to abstract art: "They are nothing but blobs of colour on a canvas, even my five year old could do that".
I have to admit I have uttered those words of ignorance from time to time long before I came to appreciate the meaning and life behind such images by the late but never forgotten Mark Rothko.
For as long as I endeavor to paint with colour in my landscapes I am reminded of Rothkos blatant and in your face use of colour. Red on Maroon, a fine example of what I call just putting it up there and letting it live. It takes some serious guts to do that. Either guts or anger. I think Mark Rothko had both. I am not an angry artist, but I desire like fire to bring that simple and powerful colour into my work. To Simplify my paintings into colour spaces and just let them live.
This is what I take from that master; to just plain do it. To skip all the negative advice and just follow my heart. This is why when asked who my influences are I say emphatically that one of the greatest on me has and always be the late yet great Mark Rothko.
I have to admit I have uttered those words of ignorance from time to time long before I came to appreciate the meaning and life behind such images by the late but never forgotten Mark Rothko.
For as long as I endeavor to paint with colour in my landscapes I am reminded of Rothkos blatant and in your face use of colour. Red on Maroon, a fine example of what I call just putting it up there and letting it live. It takes some serious guts to do that. Either guts or anger. I think Mark Rothko had both. I am not an angry artist, but I desire like fire to bring that simple and powerful colour into my work. To Simplify my paintings into colour spaces and just let them live.
This is what I take from that master; to just plain do it. To skip all the negative advice and just follow my heart. This is why when asked who my influences are I say emphatically that one of the greatest on me has and always be the late yet great Mark Rothko.
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