At 18 inches

Earlier in this semester, we looked at some paintings by Malevich and Mondrian.  These two artists used very straight lines even shapes in their paintings.  Malevich's painting on page 18 of our text uses light colors and is not much to look at, if you ask me.  Mondrian's painting, on page 19, although it has more color, does not excite me in the least.  It just looks outdated, with its yellows, red, blue, and white and takes me back to a time before I was born.  It seems to me to be antique and in the past, something you wouldn't find anywhere except in a museum.  These paintings don't seem to stand the test of time.

However, on page 88, I noticed a painting with similar qualities, such as straight lines and rectangles, but with a strikingly different effect.  The painting is by Mark Rothko, who painted in the color-field movement.  Unlike Malevich and Mondrian, who were basically trying to strip art down to lines and simplify it, Rothko had a deep vision for his art.  He was trying to portray "tragedy, ecstasy, and doom" by layering colors and making the paintings "glow from within."  He wanted people to observe the paintings at 18 inches and to contemplate them, saying that people should have a "religious" experience and should be moved by them.  It seems interesting to me that such a simple subject matter would be able to have that effect, but at the same time, there is something almost mesmerizing about his paintings.

Although, it is impossible for a picture to capture the full depth of these paintings, each of them has a particular mood that is more profound than one would expect from simple colors on a page.  The top one gives me a feeling of imminent doom, like an approaching storm.  Even in this picture, you can see some of the layers of paint that almost cause you to dive into the painting, looking for what is hidden underneath.  Both of the bottom paintings definitely have a glow to them and have incredible depth.  The red painting almost reminds me of sitting in front of a fire that is nice warm, but the middle, darker red section is like a warning that it is fire and it could get out of hand.  The painting on the right is like a dawn or sunset, with the colors deepening as they go up.  The layers of color are beautiful and almost peaceful.  I wish that I really could be standing 18 inches in front of them, so I could fully immerse myself in the colors and emotions that they portray.

Unlike the paintings that we studied earlier, these paintings could stand the test of time.  Instead of just stripping art, these paintings explore how simple colors, colors on colors, and layers of colors can evoke deep meaning.  Not only are they pretty and nice to look at, they trigger something deep inside and cause the observer to search for answers, instead of just taking them at face value.