Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA
It might be deduced, knowing painter Mark Rothko’s iconoclastic nature, that he might not applaud the news that a recent Christie’s auction of paintings included one by him that sold for $86.9 million. Considered one of the great postwar modern artists, in the latter years of his life he grew increasingly disturbed by the collector who wanted his work as a conquest, acquiring it as a trophy rather than for what meaning might be gleaned from it.
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Neal Weaver – LA Weekly
John Logan’s Tony-winning play looks at the life and work of abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, a soldier in the art wars of the 20th century who helped to kill cubism and surrealism. In the play’s now, circa 1958-59, Rothko (Tony Abatemarco) is feeling threatened by the new generation of Pop artists, including Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, who seem bent on killing abstract expressionism.
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Shirle Gottlieb – Gazette Newspapers
Like almost everyone at opening-night, we were captivated by International City Theatre’s production of “Red” from the very beginning. So please forgive my use of the titular “we,” as I relate some personal history that’s relevant to this award-winning work before I start my review.
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Now running through September 15.
