Sunrise at 36,000 ft 1973

Editor: This is Michael Rothenstein's "Sunrise at 36,000 ft," and the date is unknown. It has a very serene and layered feel to it. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a negotiation between our desire to dominate nature and our simultaneous helplessness within it. The abstract landscape, rendered in bands of color, speaks to a modern experience of dislocation. Editor: Dislocation? Curator: Consider the altitude in the title. Travel was becoming more accessible, yet the view, once majestic, is reduced to simplified blocks of color. Is this progress or a form of alienation? Does the title ironically invite us to reflect on our place within nature given the modern trappings of flight? Editor: I never considered that. It's an interesting juxtaposition! Curator: Art can provoke these kinds of critical questions. Editor: Absolutely. I'll definitely look at landscape art in a new light now.