Now and Then, oil on canvas, 2023

My first encounter with a Mark Rothko painting was at the Museum of Modern Art in NY when I was in college. I may have heard his name before, but I was not familiar with his work at all. As soon as I saw the painting, I was overcome with a profound sense of peace and my eyes teared up. I could not have explained with words what was going on in that painting, but as stood in front of it, I understood exactly what the artist was doing. It was a life-changing experience and the first time (of many yet to come) that I was moved to tears while looking at a work of art. I have shown slides and pictures of Rothko paintings to many students and tried to explain, with limited success, his work to them, but there is no substitute for standing directly in the presence of the paintings. When you stand directly in front of a work of art, you are in the same place relative to the work that the artist was in when they created it and you see the actual surface and the materials that the artist touched with their hands and their tools and the size of the art relative to you is the same as it was to the artist. Great works of art emit their own energy and when you stand in front of one, in an almost symbiotic relationship, you share in that energy. Rothko certainly knew this and creating that experience for the viewer was principal in his intent when creating his paintings. The same can be said about the difference between experiencing a live musical performance compared to listening to a recording. Reproductions of art are certainly important and essential learning tools and they allow us to see art from all over the world, but I believe that it is important to see as much art in person as possible.

I have mixed feelings about posting images of my own work on the internet. On one hand, I want people to see my work and to be able to get an idea of what I do, but when someone looks at a postage stamp-sized digital image of one of my paintings, they are not really looking at the painting. The surface texture and scale of each mark that I made is completely lost, even though the composition, value relationships and color harmony may be faithfully represented. But I live in northern Maine and if I want people to see my work at all, it's a sacrifice that I must make.