When I first saw a retrospective of Mark Rothko’s work at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, I had an experience that many who see Rothko’s work share. Although I had seen individual pieces of his from time tot time prior to this experience, I had never really appreciated Rothko’s genius until I had the fortuitous opportunity to see a large number of his paintings all at once. I had arrived to see the blockbuster Calder exhibition going on in the main space of the National Gallery, we opted instead to avoid the crowds and defend the stairs to the basement where simultaneous to the exhibition upstairs, the Rothko retrospective was going on. There, I got to slowly and silently (without the throngs of families and visitors swinging on the mobiles upstairs) walk through the superbly curated show. There, I defended into a deeply moving and profoundly instructive artful experience. I chose not to read the curators statement until I had completed the full circuit and upon emerging from the exhibition all that I had just experienced, was so beautifully described by the curator.
This piece was a real pleasure to build. For it, I deconstructed dozens of Rothko painting and began to animate them and sequence the parts into a composition that celebrated the parts of his paintings and explored their relationships in time and meaning to me. CF01 was shown over the next few years in galleries and at shows throughout the world.
Screenings:
Ampersand International Arts (San Francisco), solo screening, curated by Patricia Maloney, 2009;
Experimental Video @ the Capitol Skyline in partnership with Conner Contemporary Art and The Rubell Family Collection (Washington DC), 2009;
Colorfield:Variations, worldwide, ongoing;
Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington DC), Colorfield:Remix, curated by Richard Chartier and Brandon Morse, 2007; Awarded Kraft Media Prize, 2007.
The Studio Floor 