Kellie Weeks talks about Mark Rothko

This is another in a series of occasional blog posts, where we've asked a member artist to talk briefly about an artist who's profoundly influenced their work. Here, core artist Kellie Weeks talks about her fascination with the Color Field Paintings of Mark Rothko.

One of my most profound inspirations is Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko.  In his much later work, I admire the way he brilliantly uses fields of non-objective color to portray a story.  

Orange and Yellow, by Mark Rothko, oil on canvas, 231 x 180.3 cm, 1956, courtesy of Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA.

Rothko comments “I think of my pictures as dramas; the shapes in the pictures are the performers.   They have been created from the need for a group of actors who are able to move dramatically without embarrassment and execute gestures without shame.”  (American Art Since 1945; David Joselit)  

Often, I see my own work in this fashion.  Each painting is a drama constructed with colors and forms, and I invite the viewer to look in and perhaps create their own narrative based on the information I have provided.   There are no embarrassments, no shame, everything on the canvas is there for a reason.  They are all actors in the play.

- Kellie Weeks

And now a bit about Kellie Weeks:

Kellie is an abstract painter. Often in her work, basic fields of color, shapes, and objects are seen yielding to one another or competing for space. These dynamic compositions tend to describe simple relationships which reveal pertinent information about mankind and what it means to be a living being in this world, all the while, trying to illuminate the human spirit and the journey it is on.

Kellie paints with pigment sticks and encaustic, which is an ancient medium that is comprised of beeswax, resin, and dry pigments.While using encaustics for their insurmountable quality, depth, and brilliancy, Kelliealso incorporates dry pigments, metal leaf, shellac, and other mixed media as vehicles to develop a whole lexicon of imagery.

Kellie’s work has been exhibited nationally in many juried and group shows, and is

included in many private and public collections. Additionally, she has worked on many

commissioned pieces. She works diligently, day to day in the studio, searching for what her hero Mark Rothko calls the “anecdote of the spirit”.