Meditations in colour

The almost childlike simplicity of Mark Rothko’s art is what makes him rather special in my eyes. The swatches of colour that he so boldly used in his large canvases, is extremely arresting in its appearance. As an observer, when I look at a Rothko, the fluid transition from one colour to the next seems almost inevitable in its choice. And the borders that separate them seem to respectfully pause in order to accommodate this transition. To me these fields of colours seem saturated with life and meaning. Perhaps, that’s what gives it a spiritual slant that the artist claimed to have attempted through these untitled pieces.

Mark Rothko refused to explain these pieces by simply numbering them or giving them the year in which they were painted. He wanted people to experience the awe and grandeur that these works evoked without being handicapped by a description. In that sense, these larger than life canvases that overpowered the viewer and sucked him into the realm of the unknown was also intimate and personal like no other small painting could ever be.   

If one were to get down to specifics, then the descriptive nature of Rothko’s art would be abstract expressionism. But this Russian-born American painter rejected the label and even resisted being classified as an “abstract” artist. These colour field paintings that he developed as his signature style towards the latter half of his career gave birth to the idea of the famous Rothko Chapel.

To me Rothko’s art is minimalistic at first appearance and deeply engaging thereafter. One can be enthralled by it endlessly, as if under a spell. If you ask me, that’s quite an effortless way to slip into meditation if ever there was one.