Rothko, Night #3

I found a smock finally! Balled up on the closet floor where it had slipped from its hanger, was my flannel shirt. I love that shirt! Marty hates that shirt. I bought it as a freshman in college because in 1989 in the midwest, cool girls wore flannel. So I thought. I wear it only around the house on chilly days, so if it gets paint on it, I won't really care. It's the oldest piece of clothing I own, and probably the most beloved.

Today's class focused on the 1940's, which is the period in Rothko's career where he transitioned from linear art to abstract. He and his contemporaries were greatly affected by the 'new reality' of war and the atomic bomb. They felt reality was distorted and abstract, and so was the art of the time. Our assignment was to use a photo as the inspiration for our work, then abandon the forms in the image entirely. Teacher likened it to a 4 year old who draws a rabbit. An adult asks the child, "Why is the rabbit blue and why does it have 4 wheels?" and the child says "Why not?" Rothko wanted to paint without rules. Teacher instructed, "Paint with 'why not?' in mind." After we painted the barest form of our photo, Teacher instructed, "Everyone rotate your work. Abandon the photo and paint what pleases you." Does a hot sticky mess please me? Because that's what I ended up with.

My final work. Can you guess the inspiration?

The Rothko examples that we were mimicking this week were amorphous. But the more we discussed them as a class, the less confused we were and the more we appreciated the "eyes of the beholders." We talked about the images we saw in his work, and what we thought they represented. Then Teacher rotated them and we had the same conversation again with entirely different comments.

Rothko multiform painting, 1948

Rothko multiform painting, 1948

After our discussion, class was unusually silent as we painted. We were all concentrating, cocking our heads, and stepping back from our easels for a view. We would visit each other's easels from time to time to discuss what we saw in each other's work, and then class was over. Teacher painted with us tonight, and at one point accidentally flung paint onto me. Onto my convenient beautiful flannel smock? Not at all. My pink sandals. They don't make smocks for those.

The final works of my class on Rothko Night #3.

My inspiration photo.