No. 22 1948

Mark Rothko made 'No. 22' sometime in his career, probably with oils on canvas, and look at how he's layered the colors. It's all about the process, you know, building up those tones. The colors, they're not screaming at you, are they? The paint looks almost scrubbed on, like he’s trying to find the image more than make it. See that hazy grey block in the middle? It's like a cloud, but grounded, heavy. Then there's that mossy green patch below, holding the whole thing down. It’s like he's scraping the paint around, blurring the edges. The canvas is worked, really worked, and that labor shows. Rothko reminds me a little of Agnes Martin, that quietness, that searching. Art's a conversation, right? A way of seeing. There is no right way of seeing, just layers and layers of feeling.