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| Rothko Painting No. 2 |
“Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life” – Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (1919-1990).
The dust of everyday life accumulates
incrementally and mostly unnoticed. Eventually it clogs our vision and distorts
what should be a pleasant daily experience into a drudgery of work and futility
of purpose.
Blakely
brings to jazz the accolade that the music it delivers refreshes us in our
experience of the day.
The
paintings of Mark Rothko achieve a similar effect for me.
Sherry and
I visited the Chicago Institute of Art Friday, July 9, 2021. They have a
wonderful exhibit of five of Rothko’s paintings.
The first
impression I gather from Rothko’s work is that each piece seems to make for a
great jazz album cover. Hence my reference to a jazz drummer’s quote.
My second,
more impressionable, impression is that, like jazz, Rothko’s work washes away
the dust of complexity and confusion in art and provides a refreshment of the
cognitive disposition…at least mine.
Rothko’s
work does not impose upon the viewer the predetermined impression which the
artist may have experienced himself. Rather, his work allows the viewer to draw
personal conclusions.
When
looking at a Rothko up close it appears that the paint does not adhere to the
canvass. Instead, it seems to float above the canvass in layers of effervescing
color.
This work,
(at top of blog post) entitled No. 2 and described as “Blue, Red and Green” and "Yellow, Red, Blue on Blue" with a somewhat uniform border, evokes a sense of
summer soothe. The fullness of the blue field establishes a base of relaxation
while the yellow/green offers a sense of excitement.
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| Rothko untitled |
This work,
untitled, inspires summer again (although resetting me to my childhood) as the
mostly orange field conjures up the warmth of the sun filling the air while the
cooler field of the green/yellow delivers a resting place for soul.
Yes, I
think Rothko’s work would make for great jazz album cover art. The kind of jazz
that relaxes the spirit yet stirs your sense of intrigue. The kind of jazz that I would
label as “Elastic Groove”.
Another
great album cover would be my photo from the moving South Shore Line car on our
way back home to Elkhart.
This would
be great for fusion jazz with a clackety-clack rhythm interrupted periodically
and irregularly by a blast of horn at the intersections of daily, dusty life.
