a couple weeks ago

A couple weeks ago I drove to Montrose in Houston, TX to visit Anita and Austin for the weekend.

Their cats, The Baby Jesus (left) and Natasha (right).

Here are some of the things we did:

• We went out to dinner at Hollywood for a Vietnamese meal and shared a bottle of Andre champagne (typically $4).
• Anita and I went to the Rothko Chapel and to the Menil Collection to drink in Dadaist and Surrealist artwork.
• We grilled steak and made fajitas.
• We read books and played with the cats.
• Anita and I ate crepes to reminisce about our crepe making days.
• We went to brunch at Brasil, a restaurant with exposed brick walls, and poked around next door at Domy Books and were amused by the selection of books and novelties.

I had a lot of fun visiting a new city and seeing old friends. Thanks for your hospitality, guys!
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I had learned a bit about the Rothko Chapel in my Modern Art class at Pitt, but hadn't thought much about it. After all, 14 black paintings are just black, right? But when we were browsing the web for things to see in the area, we saw that the Rothko Chapel was just 3 blocks away, and free, so Anita and I decided to check it out.

It is not a traditional Christian chapel, but a nondescript brick building, and inside it is octagonal with a peaked ceiling that allows natural light to enter. On each wall hangs one or two or three large black paintings by Mark Rothko. No one is allowed to use a camera or phone or ipod while inside, keeping it silent for those who are there to meditate. When we were there, a couple student groups were sketching the architecture.

What struck me most was the depth of the paintings. One was reddish, one blueish, one had a hint of purple, one seemed almost velvety. Some had borders, also black, but the blacks were a slightly different shade. The line they made was full of intensity and stress, but was also calming. Rothko's brushstrokes were small on some, swooping on others; some were all horizontal while others were fully vertical. It surprised me how much intrigue I could find in these paintings that were all just black, after all.

The Rothko Chapel is an amazing space for people of all denominations to share in prayer or meditation or just observation. Although we weren't there for very long and we came in as art observers, walking out the doors into the warm Houston sun, I felt like it had changed me somehow.

Inside Rothko Chapel (photo borrowed from Studio Concrete)