Emma Jane Meehan on the paintings of American artist Mark Rothko, and their ability to communicate myriad worlds of meaning, depending on who is looking.
Pictured: Rothko in his studio, 1964. Photograph by Hans Namuth.
I was first introduced to the paintings of Mark Rothko by an art therapist I visited regularly for a few months. During our sessions together, I would map out the oscillation of my thought process on a sheet of paper while we chattered about anything that happened to come up. One evening, she mentioned the art of Mark Rothko and began to talk about his distinctive depth of colour and the spiritual quality she found so ubiquitous in his work. “Actually, I think you would find his art interesting,” she said. On her recommendation, I googled ‘Mark Rothko’ that evening and experienced something which surpassed mere interest.
Mark Rothko
Not to appear melodramatic, or hyperbolic, or pretentious – but it was as though I had not existed until I saw Rothko’s work. It was as though a foreign object had sprouted inside of me; the heart I did not know had been missing. I could feel the presence of his paintings internally, as though all of my internal organs had buoyed up inside of me and were pulsating to the beat of my heart. My infatuation with him had officially germinated and it has yet to subside. The meditative capacity of his paintings – his ‘dramas’ – was ineffably striking. They have become a permanent fixture in my life. The humanism of Rothko’s creative aspirations is particularly enveloping. It is his ability to speak directly to an observer that makes his work so imperative; and not just a couple of coloured squares that my dad could ‘knock up in the shed.’
Born in 1903 in Dvinsk, Russia, Rothko moved with his family to Portland, Oregon in 1914; thereby escaping anti-semitic persecution and being drafted for the Czarist Army. Following a year studying humanities at Yale University; Rothko dropped out, moved to New York and enrolled in The Parsons School of Design. Inspired by the avant-garde, he became a member of The New York School – a group of Abstract Expressionists whose activities in the latter half of the 20th century revolutionised American artistic expression. Rothko and his contemporaries, who included such artists as Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, sought to break the monotonous, seemingly moribund cycle of American art. Until the mid 1950s, the American artistic climate had been dominated by traditional motifs and figurative depictions of hard-working pastoral life.
Art is an anecdote of the spirit
The Abstract Expressionists emphasised emotional expression through the process of creating art rather than fixation on the ultimate visual product. Rothko achieved the effervescent quality of his coruscating colours through an assiduous process of repeatedly layering paint on wet paint with meticulous blending. This brilliantly expressive and nuanced technique transformed a finite canvas into a cosmic plain of luminous colour resulting in a paintings with the ability to mystify and emotionally engulf a viewer.
By disintegrating the physical space between the observer and the painting, Rothko wished to evoke an emotional dialogue. Rothko believed in the ability of this dialogue to create a visceral, transformative encounter which could express the essence of the universal human drama. The formal tools of his trade served Rothko merely as instruments. For him, the spatiality of colour, or colour fields, held mystical powers which transposed themselves to the viewer. This interplay between the spectator and the painting transcends the chaos of corporeality and offers spiritual edification. As Rothko himself expressed it: “the abstract artist has given material existence to many unseen worlds… For art, to me, is an anecdote of the spirit.”
As one stands in front of a Rothko – he recommended to stand only inches away from the canvas – they project emotion upon the painting, while the painting projects visual and meditative context upon the observer. The products of this synthesised interplay between a viewer’s psyche and Rothko’s brushstrokes in relation to phenomenology is fascinating.
Phenomenology
Phenomenology, founded by Edmund Husserl, is a philosophical school which examines consciousness as an intentional “reaching out” to objects we are presented with, be they physical or mental. It considers the most fundamental philosophical enterprise to be the act of describing those objects precisely as they are presented to us, without theoretical interference. For phenomenologists, this is the method of enquiry that gets us closest to reality. In psychology, the term “phenomenology” has come to denote an approach that centres on individual subjective experience, and rejects reductionism.
Each and every one of us has a unique experience of reality which is beyond the total comprehension of anyone else. I could not possibly understand the reality of my kitten because I cannot inhabit his tiny, furry body. The same goes for myself and Trump, Beyonce and Queen Elizabeth, my mother and your mother, and so on.
We have come across an interesting paradox. Rothko attempted to encapsulate the universal human experience in his paintings, however, a phenomenological approach would seem to imply that there is no universal human experience to be communicated. If one were to ask a collection of people about their experiences of Rothko paintings, it would shed light on their individual phenomenologies, but would not necessarily reveal any single quality inherent in the paintings themselves.
Responding to Rothko
I introduced a couple of Rothko creations to some of my friends people as a means of further comprehending their individual realities, a kind of Rothko-themed Rorschach test. Can Rothko’s brushstrokes meander into the deepest extremities of our psyches?. I asked the observers to describe their instantaneous reaction to the paintings; be it a sensory experience, a particularly visceral memory, a recollection of a scene in a movie, or everything all at once.
The first Rothko I chose to display is an untitled piece in which the red, yellow and pink hues coalesce into a fusion of radiating warmth.
Having tried my best to clear my mind of any preconceptions, I viewed the piece and was immediately reminded of the unique sense of airlessness I felt when on summer holidays in a humid, Mediterranean country as a young girl. The wholesome taste of perfectly formed mozzarella, beefy tomatoes and the distant smell of chlorine come to mind. One of my subjects who I will name #38, seemed to concur with this notion by using just three words to describe their reaction; ‘Wibbly Wobbly Wonder.’ Another subject, #1856, thought of children’s drawings of traffic lights while Subject 1.1’s mind leapt to images of elephants on pedestals. SUBJECT X was distinctly reminded of a certain pair of pedal pushers they had as a child, of the feeling of gnawing friction one gets when synthetic material rubs against skin. Finally, I got an intriguing glimpse into the experiences of Subject 3 when this painting prompted them to consider the smudged mark which clings on to their arm hours after they wipe off a lipstick swatch.
The second Rothko I presented was ‘Black in Deep Red’. Completed in 1957, this painting observes the dejected ambience and rectangular format which has become synonymous with Rothko.
Upon viewing this image, Subject 1.1’s mind reminisced upon the ominous tranquility involved with rage; the serene disassociation evoked by the build up of a fiery inferno inside of them. Taking a less terrifying approach, subject #1856 thought of drumsticks. Another was reminded of the pervasive knot in their stomach that they experience when arguing with their mum. When Subject R2D2 observed this canvas they thought of survivalism and their ineffable but persistent motivation to not give up despite the nonsense life can throw at them. Personally, this painting immediately made me think of the sound of Daniel Radcliffe mimicking Aragog’s pincers in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Similarly, Subject 3 was reminded of the scene in A Series of Unfortunate Events when Aunt Josephine was ravaged by the Lachrymose leeches. A considerable amount of my subjects associated this painting with nightmares and invisible evils.
I believe this investigation affirms my claim to Rothko’s ability to reflect the phenomena of the world in his paintings. My subjects detailed a myriad of images, noises and sensations which Rothko invoked within them, each as individuated and enchanting as the last. From Spanish bullfighting to pomegranates and sexual liberty, almost every facet of human existence is reflected by Rothko’s intoxicating colours. Having died in 1970, Rothko remains one of the most preeminent artists of abstraction in American history. The critic Bryan Robertson said of Rothko’s work, “We are left with a presence rather than a specific identity.” It is the perennial presence Rothko has which makes his work so significant. I would know, my sister gave me a Mark Rothko calendar for Christmas.
