Rothko, Poetry, Essays, No. 14 1960

Many times painters are known only for their paintings. No one knows they have degrees in physics like Enrique Martinez Celaya who majored in applied physics at Cornell and then left his physics doctoral studies at UC Berkeley to pursue his love of art. His painting is on the fourth floor of the Jubitz.



Nor do we know they've written treatises on art as Rothko did in his The Artist's Reality - Philosophies of Art. Or poetry as Rothko did early on...

... Heaven is like a lamp in the fog

At the end of a long, dark road.

It has a wan glimmer.

And if flame-winged figures roam

In  other worlds than this--

Figure of joy,  flame-winged exquisite, ...

Pursuing more poetry and song lyrics such as the Dar Williams from the other day, you'll find entries such as this on the "internets".

No. 14, 1960

The docent asked how it made us feel,

A pallette of red, darkness.

"Violence."

"Rage."

"Hate."

Heads bobbed in unison.

Their assumptions soon validated

By the guide's eager gossip,

Your late-life suicide.

As the group's feet echoed

Unenthusiastically into another atrium

I stood, transfixed with warmth,

Alone in the pure passion -

Your painting.

Emotion framed on canvas.

A scraggly, fading rectangle surrounded

By a deep crimson darkness.

Life is simple and messy and pure.

-J.D. Nielsen

http://concretefiction.blogspot.com/2007/12/parting-gift.html