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Out of Darkness · 2023
Rothko Reimagined
Available · in the studio, Phoenix
The Out of Darkness response to Rothko — the color field painter's world held in near-black, the emotional field without the color that made it approachable.
Rothko Reimagined (2023) is a reverent disruption — a painting that honors influence while asserting new direction. This 48 x 36 inch acrylic on canvas piece from the Out of Darkness Collection revisits the emotional depth of Mark Rothko through a more tactile, layered, and contemporary lens.
At first glance, the structure feels familiar: blocks of color stacked and softly bleeding into one another. But look closer, and the surface tells a different story. It’s scratched, built up, and intentionally uneven. Deep burgundy meets luminous coral. Midnight violet folds into gray-blue. The edges pulse instead of blur.
I painted Rothko Reimagined not to imitate, but to engage — to ask how an artist like Rothko might express now, in an age of interruption and noise. Where his works whisper, mine pushes forward. Where his dissolve, mine disrupt. Yet beneath it all is the same search: for presence, for depth, for color as emotion.
This piece owes much to Rothko’s sensibility but also draws from the texture-focused energy of Sean Scully, whose structured abstraction invites touch as much as contemplation. Like Scully, I wanted to give the viewer more than light — I wanted to offer weight.
Rothko Reimagined is not a copy. It’s a continuation — a gesture of gratitude and a step into divergence. As part of the Out of Darkness Collection, it holds a place where history and invention overlap.
Where to see it. In person at RituStudio, Phoenix, by appointment. Represented by Jarrow & Goodman, Los Angeles.
The space it needs
- Wall
- At least 5 ft wide
- Ceiling
- 8 ft or more
- Light
- Low ambient light amplifies luminous passages — dark-wall installation ideal
- Daylight
- Lampblack and deep gray hold their temperature in any light, but strong daylight grays the black and erases the pulsing edges. Hang it away from windows, where the field can deepen.
Lives best in
Hotel lobby 5/5
The hard, defiant edges where most painters would blur hold a lobby's scale and foot traffic without dissolving into background noise, making this the rare dark work that announces arrival rather than absorbing it.
Living room 4/5
At 3 × 4 feet, this near-monochrome field of lampblack and layered grays commands a living room wall without overwhelming it, its pulsing edges creating the kind of slow tension that rewards long evenings.
Details
- Size
- 3 × 4 ft (W × H)
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Year
- 2023
- Collection
- Out of Darkness
- Palette
- Lampblack · Gray · Deep Gray
- Weight
- About 22 lb
- Ready
- In the studio; delivery 8–12 weeks
Its ArtGram
ArtGram.Sprig
- Texture1
- Form4
- Colour range1
- Palette4.2
- Contrast2.9
- Abstraction Quotient4.5
