Untitled 1945

Curator: Take a moment with this Untitled mixed-media piece by Mark Rothko, dating back to 1945. It resides here at the Met. What's your initial impression? Editor: It feels like an excavation, layers upon layers revealing… something primal. A sense of biomorphic forms struggling to emerge. Curator: Rothko, even early on, was deeply interested in expressing the subconscious through abstract forms. You see some vestigial Surrealist and Expressionist elements, don't you? The tension of creation is palpable, wouldn't you agree? It's almost theatrical! Editor: The orchestration of lines, especially those almost blood-red tendrils against the washed-out backdrop, certainly suggests drama. But it's tightly controlled. Is he trying to express or restrain this sense of inner emergence? It reminds me of when you attempt to recall something lost from deep within your subconscious and yet find yourself incapable of achieving full conscious understanding of that long lost forgotten memory! Curator: Exactly! It's as if these forms are yearning for a definition they can’t quite grasp, a search for absolute structure amidst total ambiguity. In art historical contexts this relates very strongly to a desire that became very widespread during WWII with a very direct goal to capture and relate emotional content directly and with no holds bar. Rothko even plays with the materiality; look closely. Editor: Yes, the build-up and subsequent wearing-down of the oil paint layers create an almost archaeological feel, with a hint of ritual. The color, in particular, almost transcends itself to attain, from only the paint on the canvas, a full three dimensional embodiment. This becomes increasingly intriguing in relation to his further artworks as his artistic trajectory of increasing abstraction seems to me here much closer than previously imagined, because there are actual three dimensional figures and depictions. Curator: An appropriate sentiment. The surface has a history of its own, of trial and error, like he's peeling back layers of understanding. As we leave this work, what lingers for you? Editor: The struggle, perhaps. The relentless effort to find coherence in the intangible and to display emotion and personal connection using new methods. Curator: The quest that shapes us, a sentiment I could never argue with, and one that perhaps best describes what art should, fundamentally, entail, no?