“Seeing Red,” Mark Rothko Inspired Works Displayed at “Red”

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Rolf Rykken

Briefly augmenting the Tony Award-winning play, Red, by John Logan, at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage, were a dozen works inspired by the grand, colorful paintings of Mark Rothko, who is the focus of the play.

Two Museum Assistants at The Phillips Collection were among the artists in the “Seeing Red” display, organized by Joseph Orzal and Josef Palermo of the Washington art collective, Vestibule. The works were on view February 3-5, 2011.

Experiment Station talked with Museum Assistants Janelle Ortiz and Rodrigo Carazas Portal about their works in the display.

Rodrigo Carazas (left) and Janelle Ortiz (right) stand by their works installed at Arena Stage in February 2011. Photos: Rodrigo Carazas Portal

You’re familiar with paintings in the Rothko Room at the Phillips, and I heard you went to the Phillips library to look through the books on Rothko. Is the Phillips your first exposure to Rothko?

Janelle: The Phillips Collection is not my first exposure to Rothko. I actually cannot even pinpoint in my memory when I first learned about Rothko or first saw a painting of his. However, the Rothko Room was my first EXPERIENCE with a Rothko. Previously, I passively viewed them at art museums; this was before I viewed the Rothko Room or did any research on the artist and his work. The way the Rothko Room presented his paintings requires real consideration from the viewer, a consideration I had never given before to a work by Rothko.

Rodrigo: Mark Rothko is a continuous inspiration for me. Working at The Phillips Collection gave me a much closer approach to his work, and the library [provided] a deeper insight on his life and ideas.

Is Rothko the inspiration for the work? Continue reading →

Dramatic Play

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Brooke Rosenblatt

At February’s Phillips after 5 the museum collaborated with Arena Stage to celebrate their production of John Logan’s play Red and our Rothko Room. Teaching artists from Arena led theater workshops that brought artworks from the museum to life through tableaux vivants or living pictures. Have a look at participants at play!

Participants warm up by making individual tableaux. The inspiration: freeze like you just won the lottery. Photo: Charles Mahorney

More warm-up as participants collaborated to make a shape with a focal point. Photo: Charles Mahorney

In the next series, participants took Daumier's The Uprising as a source of inspiration for tableaux. Honoré Daumier, The Uprising (L'Emeute), 1848 or later. Oil on canvas, 34 1/2 x 44 1/2 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Acquired 1925.

Participants create a tableau inspired by The Uprising. Photo: Charles Mahorney

Another tableau inspired by The Uprising. Photo: Charles Mahorney

Rothko Packed Them to the Rafters!

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Experiment Station

Photo: Sarah Osborne Bender

Last night, Klaus Ottmann, director of the Center for the Study of Modern Art and curator at large, gave his talk Rothko and Color: A Two-Part Meditation to a packed house of 275 attendees. The auditorium was filled to capacity, standing room filled. Even our overflow seating outside of the auditorium was brimming, with people sitting on the floor and lining the walls. With our permanently installed Rothko Room, the special hanging at the National Gallery of Art, and the impending opening of John Logan’s play Red at Arena Stage, D.C. is fully embracing Mark Rothko’s exploration of the experience of color.