Exploring, from Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's Profile, 1985, Mike Kelley; synthetic polymer paint on paper pinned to canvas, 76 ½ x 64 in. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the Friends of Contemporary Drawing, the Contemporary Arts Council, and the Junior Associates of the Museum of Modern Art. Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY. Art © Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts. All Rights Reserved/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Plato in America: Edward Hopper, Mark Rothko, Mike Kelley
GETTY VILLA
Auditorium
This is a past event
How do philosophical ideas drive artistic expression? Art historian John C. Welchman traces the influence of Plato's thinking on three emblematic American artists. Welchman begins with a discussion of Edward Hopper's enigmatic painting Excursion into Philosophy created in 1959. He explores the Platonic ideas that influenced Mark Rothko's aesthetic, and describes how Mike Kelley "backed into" a relationship with Plato in one of the live performances and associated installations that launched his career, Plato's Cave, Rothko's Chapel, Lincoln's Profile, first seen in 1986.
This program complements the exhibition Plato in LA: Contemporary Artists Visions.
