Hommage to Rothko
Why New York?

Painting. A means of expressing the mind in color. A medium to show the flow of time and emotions. A way to stimulate the vision of the unknown. A journey to take in the everyday. A path to walk forever. A white line in a blue field. A red stripe in an orange plane. A yellow shape in a raspberry surrounding.

I have been painting ever since I could hold a crayon. I feel this tremendous flow running through my body when I paint. Making the invisible visible. In the tradition of Paul Klee and Vasily Kandinsky, I am searching for more abstract, more universal. During my student years in Aix-en-Provence I discovered Rothko in a book. It hit me in such a way, as to search for a way to live in the city where this work had been created. There must be a reason that this art has been realized on the soil of Manhattan. Why was that? I was going to find out. This painting tradition seemed to have been put into practice by a Russian in Munich and continued by a Russian (today Latvia) in New York. Color field painting with many metaphysical connotations.

When I moved to New York the city greeted me with open arms. I stayed seven years and worked at the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Everywhere I was close to Rothko originals. When lecturing I took always the time to have my public enter the realm of Rothko's work.

Living on the same soil my artist mind was searching how to pursue this powerful work. How to continue this vein that runs through art history. A venturesome endeavor. The keen artist. Rothkos have not been produced since 1970. It is time to see this legacy be taken at stake. Please feel for yourself.

(RMG 2007)