Skip to main content

Dear Mark Rothko

Dammit Jim, I'm a Fine Artist Not an Interior Decorator!

Dear Mark Rothko, I love ya man but do you have any idea what you have done? Besides making people do awkward yoga in front of your paintings at museums, I mean. I'm talking about the revolution of quick color splotch "artists" you have spawned by the thousands that are clogging up dentists offices, boutique galleries and restaurants all across the world. Paintings that are solely based on matching someones sofa....and perhaps don't clash with the main attraction of the room....the flat screen.
Mark Rothko "White Center" 1950

You have made it hard for the fine artists who spend TIME on their work to find places to show because there is such a plethora of artists who crank out these splotchy paintings in bulk a day and....they sell. At least I think they sell? It's the equivalent of bubble gum machine toys made in China. They are all over the place! Maybe I'm just seeing the same 30 pieces everywhere I go.
For the record, I really do appreciate Rothkos abstract expressionism. I'm a devotee of color and these are amazing for the time he was working in. However, you are not Rothko and I am not Rothko and all these cranksters need to develop their own unique style. Please. I'm tired of looking up over my plate in a restaurant and seeing bad art.
Is it just me or is putting TIME and EFFORT into your work frowned upon and not in vogue these days? Maybe I just need to silkscreen everything. Maybe I need to paint sofas to go with your sofa. That's it! I will paint the portrait of your sofa- how can it NOT match?!
(Awkward yoga in front of Rothko paintings is real. I was a guard at a museum. I watched this happen. I'm down with color meditation. And watching awkward yoga is the highlight of a bored guards day. Breathe in, Breathe out. Namaste!)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

So what's the Scenario?

Street Artist 'My Dog Sighs' Paints Faces on Cans Found Littered on the Street I found this interesting art on Pinterest and thought it would be a good example for a proposed scenario.....indulge me if you will.... The scenario is this....this street artist paints on cans. Pretty cool right? Pretty neat! He's probably not the only one who paints on cans in the world but he most likely is the only one in his little neck of the woods and art circle. Ok, let's pretend I invite this CAN painter to be in this big group show we do annually at my gallery. (This is pretend land, I dont have a gallery but roll with me...)  Ok, he is a hit, everyone thinks his can faces are awesome and he's considered pretty unique for doing this medium in our little art circle. Ok fast forward into the future....it's a year later and it's time for our big annual show...here's the scenario....we don't invite the CAN artist to come show again BUT we do hand out a can ...
6 comments
Read more

Year of the Dragon

  First off, Happy New Year to my blog readers! Not sure if I actually have blog readers but if I do- I wish you well! We are coming up on the Chinese Lunar New Year and it's Year of the Dragon! I jumped into the year at a crazy pace and really need to pace myself for ALL THE THINGS I'm trying to accomplish. First off it was very important to me to launch a couple things and explore some other platforms. Those being: Tiktok, Patreon and YouTube I'll go on to say that I actually did not want to do any of these. I repeat DID NOT WANT TO DO THESE.  *Didn't think I was worthy for people to pay me on Patreon and also thought creating perks for people monthly was a lot of work. So far ...IT IS A LOT OF WORK....but I am new and growing from the ground up and that's how it is. Growing pains! I'm working to learn and streamline this so it goes hand in hand with... *YouTube channel! Who actually does not enjoy seeing my weird face and voice in a video? Hi. ME. I really di...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Age of Upgrade

BIG BATCH OF HAND PAINTED WAX FOR SAN FRANCISCO I wanted to do a  blog about the upgrade I'm doing and why. Because I am an artist and not a business person I have been lax on so many things I shouldn't have been and caused myself a lot of headaches. This was a year of growing pains for my business and days before my birthday I decided my new age of 39 would be one of grand changes. For starters...I'm typing this on an old Android phone. It's the only equipment I have. My old Mac finally gave up the ghost and I can no longer do any graphic designing in Photoshop or even save files. This will need to be upgraded, I need a computer. Let's talk about vinyl though...I started doing the vinyl about 6 years ago and they were pretty basic novice attempts at painting on vinyl. After many experiments, failures and tons of practice... I have brought them into their own. They started as $30 discs and climbed as I got better. I marked everything DOWN to $50 this year...
4 comments
Read more