Wednesday, June 15, 2005
more on ROTHKO
Before I get back into Rothko, let me share this link sent to me by Will Esposito, it's great! Weird Deer.
But Rothko and Paul Virilio's take on Rothko. Suicide? Terrorism? Art? I've been thinking about these things in Virilio's way. It reminds me of a poem I read a long time ago in a magazine. The poet was male, but I don't know his name anymore. Anyway, he actually said that Richard Brautigan and Mayakovsky had nothing to say in the end because they killed themselves. He made it clear that we should negate their works due to suicide. For a long time I was angry at that poet for that poem. Then I came to think of the poet as being in denial about something about himself, and bigger than himself.
First we have to believe that Art is here to save our lives, or something, in order to believe in this shit that it promotes cultural or other kinds of suicide. Well, maybe we DON'T have to believe that it's here to Save, but I wonder.
I mean, Jesus was here, so it's said, to Save us. And he killed himself. he knew they were coming, and he waited for them. And carried the crucifix, etc., in the prime of his life, his vitality, his breath, stopped. So we are said LOVING and DEVOTING time and energy to such a man as Jesus is good, in fact VERY good! The martyr, oh, the martyr! HOW on earth can Rothko be the bad guy with trillions of martyr devotees on earth?
If I were forced to choose a suicide to shelter myself, I'd take Rothko over Christ any day!
For those of us who Love this world so much we'd do everything we can to Hold On, the empathy for the Rothko's almost becomes essential. He didn't paint because he hated after all, he painted because he Loved. Corny as it sounds, violence and everything else, he was doing what the best part of him was capable of giving us all.
Art is all over us now of course. We're covered in it, and it's impossible to escape it, and it's fine with me. Since Art has become this tangible, world, removed from aristocratic supply and demand, Art will be and bleed and anticipate and give head and give thanks and take things away at the same time. Art makes us somehow see the exchange as equal now. Maybe it's just how I'm feeling about it, and Rothko, the dead man, has not caused the structures to crumble. Everything around is crumbling, and it's not Art's job to save it, anymore than it was Delacroix's or Da Vinci's, etc.. Jesus is more to blame, I think.
What Would Jesus Do? he would wait for them to come. he would sit still, and prepare to bleed all over creation. he would say An End To Pleasure. he would link Love and Joy for two thousand years to the need for incredible suffering. And he would dare say this world has nothing to offer, only the next one. And soon enough an excuse for raping resources without any need to stop, I mean, he said it's the next life, and just ask and you shall be forgiven, so ask to be forgiven, and continue your slaughter.
Rothko doesn't ask you to ask for forgiveness. He just offers a doorway. And it's you, or it's not, and I don't know what else to say. There are many unforgivable things, and this is true, and this is what we have on so many points of the globe, the unforgivable acts that make an incredible link of generations suffer and suffer and roil in suffering that can't seem to get worse, but somehow it does. How must Iraqi citizens feel about me, who pays his taxes like a good little rodent on this side of the Atlantic, and the bullets purchased wind up in heads and chests of those they love? It's a horrible, brutal, fantastic thing! And it's all there in one way or another in Rothko!
Rothko isn't so much an Everyman to me as he is a place where each man/woman could, if they choose, discover their disgusting mouths full of dripping shit. Paul Virilio sounds to me like a case of deflection, of fantasy for Art. Virilio might very much enjoy a solid hour of bullshit artist Wayne Dyer apologizing for the accumulation of wealth amongst his PBS listening audience. It's Okay, Because (as he says) Your Wealth Is A Result Of Your Positive Energy. Yeah, right, go fucking tell that to the Enron chumps, they need to hear that New Age guru crap more than anyone right now.
You might think I'm digressing, but I'm not feeling I am. All this is part of it. Corporations must be held up to see how THEY make us feel lost and ugly and wicked, not Rothko. Mainly because Rothko already says we're wicked and ugly. And lost. And feel it.
What a beautiful Ugly, this dance,
CAConrad
But Rothko and Paul Virilio's take on Rothko. Suicide? Terrorism? Art? I've been thinking about these things in Virilio's way. It reminds me of a poem I read a long time ago in a magazine. The poet was male, but I don't know his name anymore. Anyway, he actually said that Richard Brautigan and Mayakovsky had nothing to say in the end because they killed themselves. He made it clear that we should negate their works due to suicide. For a long time I was angry at that poet for that poem. Then I came to think of the poet as being in denial about something about himself, and bigger than himself.
First we have to believe that Art is here to save our lives, or something, in order to believe in this shit that it promotes cultural or other kinds of suicide. Well, maybe we DON'T have to believe that it's here to Save, but I wonder.
I mean, Jesus was here, so it's said, to Save us. And he killed himself. he knew they were coming, and he waited for them. And carried the crucifix, etc., in the prime of his life, his vitality, his breath, stopped. So we are said LOVING and DEVOTING time and energy to such a man as Jesus is good, in fact VERY good! The martyr, oh, the martyr! HOW on earth can Rothko be the bad guy with trillions of martyr devotees on earth?
If I were forced to choose a suicide to shelter myself, I'd take Rothko over Christ any day!
For those of us who Love this world so much we'd do everything we can to Hold On, the empathy for the Rothko's almost becomes essential. He didn't paint because he hated after all, he painted because he Loved. Corny as it sounds, violence and everything else, he was doing what the best part of him was capable of giving us all.
Art is all over us now of course. We're covered in it, and it's impossible to escape it, and it's fine with me. Since Art has become this tangible, world, removed from aristocratic supply and demand, Art will be and bleed and anticipate and give head and give thanks and take things away at the same time. Art makes us somehow see the exchange as equal now. Maybe it's just how I'm feeling about it, and Rothko, the dead man, has not caused the structures to crumble. Everything around is crumbling, and it's not Art's job to save it, anymore than it was Delacroix's or Da Vinci's, etc.. Jesus is more to blame, I think.
What Would Jesus Do? he would wait for them to come. he would sit still, and prepare to bleed all over creation. he would say An End To Pleasure. he would link Love and Joy for two thousand years to the need for incredible suffering. And he would dare say this world has nothing to offer, only the next one. And soon enough an excuse for raping resources without any need to stop, I mean, he said it's the next life, and just ask and you shall be forgiven, so ask to be forgiven, and continue your slaughter.
Rothko doesn't ask you to ask for forgiveness. He just offers a doorway. And it's you, or it's not, and I don't know what else to say. There are many unforgivable things, and this is true, and this is what we have on so many points of the globe, the unforgivable acts that make an incredible link of generations suffer and suffer and roil in suffering that can't seem to get worse, but somehow it does. How must Iraqi citizens feel about me, who pays his taxes like a good little rodent on this side of the Atlantic, and the bullets purchased wind up in heads and chests of those they love? It's a horrible, brutal, fantastic thing! And it's all there in one way or another in Rothko!
Rothko isn't so much an Everyman to me as he is a place where each man/woman could, if they choose, discover their disgusting mouths full of dripping shit. Paul Virilio sounds to me like a case of deflection, of fantasy for Art. Virilio might very much enjoy a solid hour of bullshit artist Wayne Dyer apologizing for the accumulation of wealth amongst his PBS listening audience. It's Okay, Because (as he says) Your Wealth Is A Result Of Your Positive Energy. Yeah, right, go fucking tell that to the Enron chumps, they need to hear that New Age guru crap more than anyone right now.
You might think I'm digressing, but I'm not feeling I am. All this is part of it. Corporations must be held up to see how THEY make us feel lost and ugly and wicked, not Rothko. Mainly because Rothko already says we're wicked and ugly. And lost. And feel it.
What a beautiful Ugly, this dance,
CAConrad
