Saturday, August 22, 2009

My New Rothko


It's only a print of a Mark Rothko painting of course and not mine actually, just on loan from Blanchardstown Library. They have a selection of framed prints which can be borrowed for two months. I visited the Rothko exhibition in the Tate Modern last January and was very impressed but the huge paintings. The limited use of colour and the basic shapes makes it all the more mysterious. Like using a very strict form in a poem I suppose.

This painting is called Untitled 1954. That doesn't sound correct. Maybe it should be "This painting is untitled and was created in 1954". Confusing!

Great quotations from the painter here. My favourite today is A painting is not about an experience. It is an experience. You could adapt it and say: A poem is not about an experience. It is an experience.

This print temporarily replaces the Patrick Collins print of Travelling Tinkers which I bought in the eighties at the major retrospective in the Municipal Gallery, Dublin, now the Hugh Lane Gallery. Collins was born in Sligo of course, Rothko in Russia.

Someone has invented a poetic form called a Rothko - it's true check it out.

1 comment:

Padhraig Nolan said...

Lovely print! I visited the Tate exhibition last October - well worth the trip. I had my own Rothko 'epiphany' a few years ago in SFMOMA. Love the quote too - damn right. Poetry and painting are closer in many ways than poetry and prose, IMHO.