"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

Art of the Night

Untitled, by Mark Rothko (circa 1950s)

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16 comments

1 BronxToCT   ~  Feb 11, 2010 8:21 pm

Haunting piece -- kept a poster of it on my wall while a grad student. Nice to see it again!

2 RagingTartabull   ~  Feb 11, 2010 8:28 pm

I keep this in my office right above my banzai tree and signed first edition of Atlas Shrugged

anyone? anyone?

3 Cliff Corcoran   ~  Feb 11, 2010 8:29 pm

[1] Explain "haunting." I try to be open minded about abstract art, but Rothko was the one I never could figure. His stuff always looked like fancy Candyland cards to me.

Best I can tell, the real art here is that the viewer projects their own emotions on to an almost absurdly vague image, so BronxToCT might see "haunting," whereas someone else might see the warmth of the sun, or oppressive heat, or delicious fruit, or a fancy Candyland card . . .

4 BronxToCT   ~  Feb 11, 2010 8:58 pm

[3] Cliff --I thought about the choice of that word after I wrote it and almost changed it. But when I look at art, I usually trust my initial reaction. That, coupled with my memory of that etherial (sp.?) floating yellow rectangle, made me decide to keep it. But as the old saying goes, art (or is it beauty -- or are they the same?) is in the eyes of the beholder.

5 RIYank   ~  Feb 11, 2010 9:57 pm

I love Rothko's late paintings. They are actually among the few pieces of really modern modern art that resonate for me (late Picasso leaves me baffled, for instance, and Pollack seems mostly like a hoax). The Rothkos are honest, and so expressive, somehow -- to me they aren't 'vague' at all, because they aren't about anything. What holds them together is a point of view, not a subject.

This one is also beautiful, to my eyes. Modern art, like modern literature, often seems to be avoiding beauty deliberately.

6 Just Fair   ~  Feb 11, 2010 10:20 pm

I see a sunset colored pint of Guiness. But that's just me.
Cheers! : )

7 Just Fair   ~  Feb 11, 2010 10:20 pm

Guinness. D'oh!

8 Chyll Will   ~  Feb 11, 2010 10:35 pm

Looking out a window at a sunset on Mercury?

[2] The Fountainhead was better, dude...

9 Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO   ~  Feb 11, 2010 11:09 pm

[2] I was about to send you an all caps comment sayign "You like Ayn Rand???" till I realized you were chanelling some Cooper..and I don't mean Cecil!

[7] Hmmm...Guinness...4 hours till G time!

10 NoamSane   ~  Feb 11, 2010 11:11 pm

Cliff, I highly recommend Amir Bar-Lev's documentary "My Kid Could Paint That" (full disclosure: I'm biased 'cuz I contributed music to the score). It's an entertaining and intelligent documentary about some big questions about modern art, parenting and childhood, and America's fame obsessed culture.

One conclusion that is drawn in the movie is that, especially for abstract work, an artist's personal story is part of the value of their work.

11 OldYanksFan   ~  Feb 12, 2010 12:39 am

Has Hell frozen over?
"hearing #tigers' offer may actually be a bit north of $14 million over 2 years. but damon still may prefer 1 yr. chisox, braves also trying"
SI_JonHeyman/Twitter
h/t MLBTradeRumors

12 Chyll Will   ~  Feb 12, 2010 2:34 am

[11] According to these guys , signing Damon would practically create a wormhole in the space-time continuum; in that you would essentially be pushing either Magglio or one of two far cheaper players onto the bench or off the roster altogether. Magglio is a Boras client, so he'd essentially be trading one headache for another, which is essentially what the Tigers would have to do to fit Damon in. As for the White Sox, can they afford him?

Damon's gonna play somewhere, and he'll get good enough money; the rest of the league was waiting for the Yanks to completely drop out the picture, it seems. He's a fool if he goes and plays at Comerica, though; that's Bora$ talking. Atlanta's not much better for him either (no DH), but hey, it should have never gotten to this. I kinda feel if he had ditched Boras and negotiated something himself, he would have ended up with more dough; Cash still wanted him back, but Boras kept saying "hit me!" and he let him. He might have lost more money with Madoff than he let on, or maybe he just can't help loving money more.

I have a feeling and I can't support it, but somehow he ends up with a Texas team. If he ends up with the Angels, it will definitely be because the bottom completely fell out of the market thanks to Boras' storytelling skills.

13 Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO   ~  Feb 12, 2010 2:39 am

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/lists/10-guys-who-would-look-good-in-pinstripes#sport=MLB&photo=10879232

This is one of the stupidest & insulting pieces of shite-ola I have seen in a awhile. The whole premise is idiotic but to say Dusty P "cares more" than Cano..?? I don't know much abotu Klapisch but based on this, do not want to read anymore. Did he get into Cano's brain and see that he doesn't care that much about baseball? Maybe if he was 5ft 5 and white he would be more of a "grinder"??

14 Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO   ~  Feb 12, 2010 2:49 am

[12] Johnny D in the NL would tear it up..Braves a good move.

15 bags   ~  Feb 12, 2010 10:02 am

[13] Amen, brother.

16 The Mick536   ~  Feb 12, 2010 2:59 pm

[13] For the time being, I have not come up with a more negative statement, so I thank you for your comment. I like Cano and look forward to his maturing and growing. If Dustin is so great, why have the SOx not found a SS to complement him. It cannot all be the fault of the field.

As for the art stuff, it is difficult to look at some of this stuff created by hand in our Adobe dominated world. No one did what these artists did, some of which we take for granted. I also suggest, since you are closer to museums of high quality than I, that you look at the actual paintings to feel the nuance and see the tonality. These artists were not just slapdash splatters. They had vision and the technical skills to carry out what their brains saw. I just hit the gradient button and a blend key and I can do it somewhat. They had to use canvas and paint.

Picasso's genius stems not only from his work, but his longevity. Classically trained, he used all the mediums. I worked for a woman who had a plaster cast he did that was brilliant. He lived, loved, doodled, painted, sculpted, and made prints. He had a rose, blue, cubist, surrealist, african, and who can remember. He was political, although not enough for some. And he loved the girls. One of the ten greatest men ever, the first being Moses.

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