By John Chmaj
Mark Rothko’s works are some of the great achievements of how I think of “abstract expressionism”. If we think literally about these two terms in artistic terms we could define them as something like:
Abstract = distilling, distorting, removing references to living things or objects. Highlighting the materials, shapes, colors and their relationships to each other in the work as its own language
Expressionism = the approach to articulating emotion and meaning through direct expression of it in the materials. Not relying on stories, allegories, or conventions to convey meanings. Requiring direct apprehension of an artwork as a living, complete thing, with its own rules and voice.
If one considers the terms together, then, an abstract expressionist work uses its own materials and methods, independent of an external theme or story, to convey meanings and emotions through the direct apprehension of its materials. This does NOT mean the work is arbitrary or random, but that it demands the listener/viewer/attendee to let the work speak on its own terms. New aesthetic vocabulary may have to evolve, and the ability to ‘feel’ shapes and ‘see’ sounds in relationship will aid in developing direct sense of meanings.
Many abstract expressionist paintings revel in the free expressive play of materials (Kandinsky, Klee, Pollock). But others still retain a sense of formal structure even as they look to emphasize one or more aspects of it intensely (Cezanne, Mondrian, and Rothko). So that’s some background on the broad spectrum of abstraction and expression.
What makes Rothko’s work so powerful is his ability to intuit and express a universe of meanings almost exclusively through the use of color: inherently and in specific 2 and 3 part combinations. Rothko’s squares seem kind of simple, childlike when viewed through the lens of shapes as conveyors of architecture and meaning. I personally got stuck on this for years, decades. What was the point? And then the breakthrough came when I stared at his works long enough for my mind to let go of its needing to see shapes, lines, figures, objects, anything to hold onto to keep its meanings bound within the library of associations in my memory. I had to learn to let the colors LIVE, DANCE and FLOW within me. Only then did the paintings come to life. Rothko’s work liberates color – it becomes its own meaning. And then the fun part happens: as our minds begin to flow with the emotion of color (whatever that is meaning to us at the moment), we start to associate the (usually) two colors on the canvas together, to work to make sense of the meanings of the two sets of emotions working together. Rothko once called his paintings “experiences, not artworks”. When one is ready to meet red, blue, black as themselves living things as they live through our experience, then all manner of stories, feelings, memories are stirred. We learn to FEEL through color.
One also understands the great technique evolved through considerable trial and error. Rothko’s early works experiment with all sorts of color combinations and shapes, most of which look vulgar and incomplete (Cezanne’s early work has that effect on me as well.) But he slowly distilled the idea of color as its own meaning down to a simple two square design. The craft comes into determining exactly what hue and value of color will be most expressive, and how to render it so that it blends yet not blends with the square above/below it. Note that there is never a firm line between squares. Most of the time they bleed into each other in a shared space – or, if separated, have no firm edges. Everything is focused on bringing the eye back to COLOR, thrusting us back into those colors and our own senses of them. And suddenly we realize that we DO have lots of associations and memories around colors. They begin to flood our perception as we feel their emotions arise in us. But now these associations are free to roam in us as pure emotional value, separate from specific scenes, people, actions. Rothko’s work at its best becomes a vehicle for intense self-awareness. He recorded that some people would break down and cry in front of his paintings. If one thinks about what the state of perception and emotion occurs to generate tears in front of such a painting, one gets closer to Rothko’s intentions – pure Abstract Expression..
Musical/improvisational approaches need to be equally basic, ‘bi-tonal’, and subtle. Techniques used in rendering a live animated improvisation included:
- Slow shimmering dissolves into each work
- Alternating glow and throb of the color areas with no rhythmic correspondence in each work
- Set the edges glowing within each animated glow
- Free harmonic improvisation (blocks of chords shimmering with each painting block)
