Art As Communication

Mark Rothko is the representative personage of American abstract expressionism movement.His original and exemplary "color field painting" is a unique cultural landscape in modern western art history.In his more than 40 years of artistic career,he drew on the rich achievements of European abstract and surrealist art,and on this basis,he continuously promoted the innovation of his own painting style,making outstanding contributions to the transformation of the world art center from Paris to New York.In addition,Rothko can be regarded as one of the most philosophical artists in the history of western art.He consciously engaged in the study of artistic philosophy,guided artistic creation with unique and solid artistic concepts,and made reflections and responses to the tragic fate of art in modern civilization and the mission that should be adhered to.It can be said that Rothko's philosophy of art is not only an important reference for us to appreciate,analyze and criticize his paintings,but also has important value of academic research.However,long-term art criticism and art history research have not paid enough attention to these resources,which makes our cognition and understanding of Rothko are often mechanical deduction and comparison based on such solidified concepts and frameworks as "abstract expressionism","color field painting" and "platness".This "tagging" approach ignores the originality of his artistic ideas and the uniqueness of his artistic works,fails to pay enough attention to several major self-denial and style evolution in his artistic career,and further limits the possibility of studying Rothko from a broader and diversified perspective.Therefore,this article attempts to start from Rothko's artistic philosophy,combine his painting practice in different styles and periods,and refer to the theoretical resources that have had an important impact on him,so as to explore the unique aesthetic value and contemporary significance of his works.Rothko's philosophy of art consists of two main dimensions:firstly,art not only has the function of providing aesthetic pleasure,but also is an eternal symbol of tragic spirit;Secondly,art is not a closed and self-sufficient individual separated from the viewer.The tragic spirit contained in the painting can be fully demonstrated only through dialogue and communication with the viewer.The change and maturity of Rothko's painting style are fundamentally driven by thoughts,especially the continuous clarity and perfection of the concept of "art as communication".It can be said that Rothko's fundamental intention in his style transformation is to test the way and effect of artistic communication,and finally achieve the "barrier-free" communication that he pursued all his life.In this process,his artistic thought has always been in the interaction and game with classical art,modern art criticism discourse and consumption-spectacle cultural logic,so taking it as the axis can involve many important issues related to society,history and culture.Based on this,this article will take Rothko's "art as communication" thought as the main clue to construct the basic content,roughly as follows:The first chapter focuses on the dimension of viewer in Rothko's philosophy of art.First,it clarifies the important significance of the artist's philosophy to his own creation and critical interpretation of his works.Then,it elaborates the basic connotation and theoretical value of his thought of ideal "barrier-free" artistic communication from two aspects:Rothko's reflective criticism of "aesthetic contemplation" and his rejection of artistic interpretation discourse,involving the complex relationship between Rothko's artistic thought and tactile theory,formalism theory and post-modern concept.The second chapter focuses on Rothko's works on urban themes in the realistic period and works on myth in the surrealist period.It discusses the power that expressionism,surrealist artistic concepts and painting techniques provide for Rothko's artistic communication,and how he can make art become the eternal symbol of tragic spirit.Furthermore,it synthesizes the artistic practice of the two periods and examines how the concept of "art as communication" guides Rothko's painting creation from concrete to.At this stage,his artistic concept draws extensively on the theoretical resources of psychoanalysis and anthropology,and regards the "unconsciousness" and "primitiveness"factors in subjectivity as the fundamental driving force of artistic communication,through which viewers can experience the tragic spirit conveyed by art.The third chapter,referring to Rothko's "color field painting" during his exemplary period and his mural paintings in his later years,first discusses how he constructed the basic structure of his works through the relationship between color and form,and then realized the"barrier-free" communication that had not been achieved before.Secondly,it discusses how Rothko realized the transformation from easel painting to environmental installation art in the design and creation of the Seagram murals and The Rothko Chapel,and the paradigm breakthrough of contemporary art in "ways of seeing" reflected by this transformation,that is,through the interactive relationship between artistic works and the space in which they are located,viewers can obtain "participatory" artistic experience.The fourth chapter expounds Rothko's concept of "art as communication" and its historical fate and enlightening value to the development of art.Firstly,the origin between Rothko and Minimalism Art is discussed,with special emphasis on the fact that the external similarity between the two originates from the symbiosis between artistic concepts,which is closely related to the era background and ideology shared by the two.Only by going beyond the several major frameworks on which previous studies of Rothko were based and placing him in the broad frame of reference of contemporary art can we better grasp the important value of his works and thoughts beyond the times.