Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Art in Speedway: Mark Rothko


I knew when the landscape workers planted the roadside 
last year, that that area along Crawfordsville Road 
would provide interesting colors for pictures.
Last week, while waiting to cross the highway there,
I looked up to see the flowers, grasses, and trees
had grown to provide long bands of color
resembling Mark Rothko paintings.



Rothko (1903-1970) was an Abstract Expressionist whose color field 
paintings employ subtle changes in transparency and 
opacity, light and dark to draw the viewer into his works.
Rothko wanted people to experience his paintings in this way,
in order that they have some emotional involvement
in his work, rather than just view them as surface
decoration then walk away.
Hundreds of people drive by this roadside garden 
each day without noticing the luminosity 
of the leaves, the subtle changes in value
of the bands of color that separate them from the
banal architecture just beyond.

A Mark Rothko painting.

2 comments:

William Kendall said...

These pics do have a very artistic streak to them! Nicely done.

Mr T said...

Love the second one in particular