Mark Rothko

In my previous post i mentioned seeing one of nauman's pieces at the Chicago art institute. That got me thinking about all the other incredibly work i saw while there. it was a very inspiring trip for me. I saw everything from the Cycladic figurines found on the island of create in 1200 BC to Van Gogh's paints of haybails. Despite all that incredible art the most interesting thing for me was the Mark Rothko paintings i saw there. Rothko was part of the abstract expressionist movement. His work almost exclusively consists of colored squares on a canvas. Seeing images of his work in textbooks I always thought it was crap. I mean anyone can paint squares of color on a canvas. Looking at them in person was a far different experience though because they are enormous. The sheer size of them makes it feel like your going to get sucked into the painting. Because of seeing them in person i now have a new found for rothko and i try to bring this experience to mind when looking at all art.