Rothko Reimagined

Medium: Mixed Media on Wood
Size: 4ft x 3ft
Creation Date: 2023
Collection: Out of Darkness

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.