Last weekend, a friend and I decided to tour around New York City and one of the events we attended was an exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. As we walked through the expansive hallways, we came across countless murals and sculptures that presided there. One of the more memorable paintings that I noticed was No.16 by Mark Rothko. As I looked at the painting, I felt myself immersed into the painting. It was as if I was trapped within the confines of the medium and experienced a multitude of emotions that it elicited. I felt very compelled by the piece and looked it up online as I was there. I had learned that the artist was a very famous pioneer of an art movement called Abstract Expressionism. One of the defining attributes of this era was the avant-garde approach to art. He had many conditions for his paintings when they were displayed such as dark lighting, close up observance, etc. The reasons for this were because Rothko wanted his audience to experience the juxtapositions of elation and anger through the contrast of colors. This was significant because it taught me that like college, life comes has many moments of anxiety accompanied by the novelty of it. From this, I managed to mitigate my anxiety when meeting new people and adjusted to the new school environment. I stood in front of the painting once again and viewed it under such conditions. The feeling was completely different; it felt very eerie and as if I was being dragged into the darkness provided by each brush stroke. To conclude my day, we moved on from Rothko’s No.16 and viewed other parts of the gallery.
