Easy and Essential knowledge of Mark Rothko and James Turrell

 Light is the most essential element in human life. Since there is light, people can see things and perceive color. Therefore, in painting, the light evokes various emotions depending on how it is expressed, and the way of expression is personal and charictorastic according to the painter. From the early Baroque Caravaggio of Italy, Rubens and Rembrandt used the effect of light as an emphasis in painting and became more dramatic.

Caravaggio (1571-1610), The Calling of St Matthew,
1599-1600. Oil on Canvas, 322 x 340 cm, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome.

 Contrary to the paintings of the past, these painters used light to emphasize the subjects of paintings, and the made a contrast between darkness and light which brought godliness and overwhelming emotions. Impressionists also depicted the light of the moment in a frame and coloured the nature through the subjective colour of the eye. The subjective expression of colour from impressionists is ultimately due to the effect of light, and this expression is further intensified by artists such as late impressionist Matisse, who leads to a climax of subjective chromaticity in Henry Matisse 's Red Studio.

Mark Rothko,Untitled, 1953, Oil on Canvas, ARS, NY
 pamphlet of an exhibition at Hangaram art museum

 But after that, the effect of light compared to the effect of color in the development of abstract painting was not received as much as before. In this trend, Rosthko used transparent like color, which appears to have a different colour in the entire screen filled in diffenrent colour, so that the space of light can be felt through the painting. The huge masterpieces of Rothko, which are over three meters long, and the huge squares of each color in it make up an individual space, making the spectator feel like being sucked into the grandeur. In addition, Rothko pursued an ideal exhibition space and created a proportional space of light and darkness, allowing the spectator to experience the religious experience.

James Turrell, Open Field, 2004, Ji Chu, Naoshima,
image from, http://benesse-artsite.jp/en/

 If Rothko had made light experience on a two-dimensional plane, James Turrell made viewers to go directly into the light to appreciate the light and create a work of art through the light. <Open Field>, which was exhibited at the Naoshima Museum of Art in Japan, is a work that seems to experience an infinite space through the square where the viewer enters directly into the light-like wall which looks like a flat-looking wall. These works of Turrell can be explained with Rothko’s <untitled> in the sence of effects of light and the composition. 

 Rothko was born and educated in a strict Jewish family. This background was the moment for him to notice the effect of light. In many religions as well as Judaism, light represents God. Therefore, usesage of light does not symbolize the substance of the real world, but it gives a transcendental symbolism of religion which can be called a noble spirit. In addition, he used the abstract art, it makes more attention to the color than the reproduction of the object. Early Rothko’s abstract works, the floating squares, are not gorgeous, but they are seen using multiple bright colors. Later, more and more intense and darker colors become mainstream in later works, but Rothko’s works still express light and this method created a stronger contrast of light. The works of this period are expressed with the depressed imothons, in connection with the artist 's personal and private misfortunes. It shows the spiritual despair over the physical despair give the religious meaning to the works, showing the wound that he has received to the spectators, and showing that it is based on philosophical idea, not accident.

 James Turrell, similar to Rothko, grew up in a strictly religious environment. Turrell is also called the painter of light with Monet of Impressionism, however, Tourrell did not draw light but used light directly in his work. If previous artists had given the viewer the effect of light exuding from the paintings, Turrell would allow viewers to go directly into the work of light. The optical illusion effect is one of the most commonly used techniques by him. He constructed a deep space using a light to make it look the space into a flat plane, or reconstruct it into a space using light in a plane wall. Through such light-based optical illusion, Turrell talks about how light affects human perception. Through this direct experience, he claims that his work is an experience of itself, a process, and a process of self-awareness

 To comparing Rothko's <untitled, 1953> and James Turrell's <open field>, both works suggest a sense of space through the contrast between the rectangles and the color between them. However, a distinction is that in contrast to seeing the light from afar, like Rothko’s, Turrel's work makes it possible to experience the work directly. Rothko’s work is also a place of experiencing extreme emotions in the works of Rothko Chapel, but at the end, his work does not make viewers to go into the work but only to see and appreciate the work in the given space. Turrell's work initially makes a great impression of the effect of the light and the awe of the effect of the light, which gives a flat impression like the works of Rothoko’s at a distance, but when you enter the work and experience the work, all these feelings are due to the various effects of the light, that seems like a by the artist who created it, and such awe is diminished. This comes from the difference between seeing and experiencing. Seeing is holy rather than experiencing. Although paintings are in front of the eyes, we all knows they can not be touched, but only in the visual relation with the work is permitted. On the other hand, the act of entering into such a work is an act of directly experiencing the virtues and threads of the works, and revels the secret of viewing.

 Rothko created a transcendental sense by making the virtual light experience visually through the contrast and effects of color. Turrell, on the contrary, makes spectators aware of the light of reality through the spatial experience, which either provokes a transcendental sensation or tells the senses to be false. Despite these differences, the works of the two artists make use of color and light to feel spatial experience and transcendental feeling. Therefore, the most important element in their work will be light.

 Light is an immaterial entity, but it is used most effectively to emphasise other material beings. Due to the illusion of light with nonmaterial properties, it is assumed that materiality is present, and when the awareness of the materiality is false, the viewer feels vanished. Those who have experienced the cruelties of human society during the first and second world wars are fascinated by free abstract works created by chance principles such as action painting, rather than pursuing logic and reason. However, Rothko emphasised the spirituality again and tried to restore humanity's injured hearts due to war. These works of Rothko are still valid after his death, and the exhibition of Rothko are done as a work that can heal the wounded people in the space. Turrell reveals that the space created through the light is illusion, but he throws a question about the true self through the experience in it. If Rothko provokes a wound to the spectators and claims to recover, Turrell asks spectators to go a step further by suggesting a way to recover.

 In the end, the two artists show the nature of light through the colour created by human beings, and describe the wounds that human beings must recover. In the materialised modern society, the light with the nonmaterial property heals the humanity which is hurt by the material and draws the sympathy of the spectators. These attributes will come from the visual experience of art, and ultimately, the works that show the fine functions of art.