What art can do to us
I'm in southern California this week for work and I had some free time on my hands allowing me a visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
PHOTO: A Mark Rothko painting in the wild
When I was in junior high my mom worked one block from this museum and I ended up spending a lot of time there after school. Being back at the museum was akin to visiting a home I grew up in.
Since junior high I've grown into an adult with graphic design skills and an appreciation for art--especially modern art.
When I got to the museum I had butterflies in my stomach in anticipation for what I'd find on the second floor in the modern art area: a padded bench placed about ten feet back from a warm-hued, color-field painting by Mark Rothko.
With cancer I think about death more than I did before, and when faced with situations filled with extreme beauty and emotion I breathe in each moment knowing it may be the last time I experience it.
The Rothko painting was a special moment for me. I don't want it to be my last.
I think I will plan a tour of Rothkos in the future.
P.S. I found out that a Rothko Chapel exists in Houston, Texas. It is described as an "intimate sanctuary available to people of every belief" and serves as "tranquil meditative environment inspired by the mural canvases of Russian born American painter Mark Rothko." I think I need to go to this chapel.
