there are no abstractions” – Weekend
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120 years ago, on September 25, 1903, Mark Rothko was born, one of the main representatives of American abstract art, who argued that abstract art does not really exist. We collected his thoughts on how to look at abstract painting and why it is much more objective than it might seem.
1
There are no instructions that could help us understand our painting. Its explanation must stem from the consummation of the relationship between the painting and the viewer.
2
Understanding art is like a marriage between consciousnesses. And in art, as in marriage, lack of consummation is grounds for annulment.
3
The main question is not to “explain” the paintings, but whether the ideas contained in the paintings have meaning.
4
Art is a journey into an unknown world, which can only be explored by those who are willing to take risks.
5
Our function as artists is to make the viewer see the world as we see it, not as they see it.
6
Many artists consider it unimportant what exactly you draw, as long as it is drawn well. This is the essence of academicism. But there are no good pictures about anything.
7
I’m not an abstractionist. I’m not interested in the relationship between color, shape and whatnot. I am interested in expressing basic human emotions – tragedy, ecstasy, doom, etc. – and the fact that many people break down and start crying when standing in front of my paintings shows that I am able to convey human emotions.
8
If you are only moved by the color combinations of my paintings, then you are missing the point!
9
I think of my paintings as dramas. In the world familiar to us, the presentation of such a drama is impossible unless we are prepared to consider all everyday actions as part of a ritual that connects us with the realm of the otherworldly.
10
Let me be clear: in my opinion, there are no abstractions. Any form or space that does not have the pulsating objectivity of real flesh and its susceptibility to pain and pleasure is nothing. A painting that does not create an environment that allows one to feel the breath of life does not interest me.
eleven
The most interesting painting is the one that expresses more than the viewer thinks he sees.
12
Art is not only a form of action, it is a form of social action. After all, art is a way of communication, and when it enters the environment, it has the same impact as any other form of action.
13
We say that a ball is a sphere, or that autumn is sad. In these cases, the concrete object is reduced to a geometric abstraction, and the physical manifestation of the season is reduced to an emotional one, but both of these abstractions can be used to achieve other goals and express other ideas. This is exactly how abstract art works.
14
A painting is the artist’s idea of reality, expressed through plastic elements. The creation of a plastic unit reduces all phenomena of time to a unit of sensitivity and thereby connects the subjective and objective in their importance for man. It follows from this that art is a generalization.
15
Silence is very precise.
16
To think that any art can be truly pointless is the same as believing in seances. We would never be able to understand art or talk about it if this were so.
17
Abstract art may use things that aren’t as obvious as recognizable objects or a clear narrative, but it still needs to appeal to our experience. And instead of working with our sense of the familiar, it works with our experience of the abstract.
18
Art, like philosophy, exists in its own era; since the truths of one era do not partially coincide with the truths of other eras, the artist, like the philosopher, must constantly, as it were, adapt eternity to his time.
19
The theme is crucial, and only the theme that is tragic and eternal is important.
20
Now the artist is no longer constrained by the need to depict a specific person. The entire experience of mankind becomes a model for him, and in this sense we can say that art is a portrait of an idea.
Sources: Letter to The New York Times by Mark Rothko, Adolph Gottlieb and Barnett Newman, 1943; interview with Selden Rodman, 1957; “The Romantics were prompted”, 1947–1948; Letter to Clyfford Still, 1946; “The Artist’s Reality: Philosophy of Art”, 1940–1941; WNYC radio interview, 1943
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