Mark Rothko and Broadway's "Red"

With RED opening on Broadway April 1st at the Golden Theatre, painters and writers alike are questioning what it means to be called an "abstract expressionist," and what it means to reject this title in the first place.

The Broadway production of RED focuses on the work of Mark Rothko, who's series of murals for The Four Seasons restaurant on Park Avenue had received the highest commission to date in 1958. Rothko always felt that his work revealed its own insight into the "human drama". His work can be characterized by an attention to form; color, shape, and scale to name a few, and this form is what gives rise to the painting's content. As Rothko explained:

"It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism. There is no such thing as good painting about nothing."

Or to put it another way, "Silence is so accurate."

If Rothko were to have a definitive style, it would be the giant rectangular washes of color that constitute many of his paintings. Giant canvases feature open structures and shallow space. Rothko became greatly influenced by Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, an influence that plays out in many of his works. A certain metaphysical void opens up in the rectangular patterns of Rothko's work. Perhaps Rothko avoided any classification of his methods...

By Andrew Walraven, Broadway Magazine

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