Abstract environment.

The colorful painting you see is by Yotam Gidron, age 14, representing the state of Israel as part of ICAF's Utopia Project. The painting is an interesting one in which the artist presents bands and blocks of symbols, representing features of the environment, both man-made and natural.

Yotam is anxious for his viewers to understand that the world's environment must be protected and that people everywhere must live in such a way as to take care of it for the sake of future generations.

In the lower two-thirds of this painting, the viewer sees long, colorful bands of symbols representing oceans, flowers, grassy hills, snow-covered mountains, and the sky. Stark white bands with symbols for buildings alternate with those containing features of the natural environment.

Near the top of the work several blocks, containing such things as the pyramids and skyscrapers, are shown representing the past and the present. A fluffy white cloud appears behind two of the blocks in what seems to be a bright blue sky. The two blocks appear to jump out at the viewer because the cloud is behind them.

Notice that Yotam has used black lines to clearly outline each of the blocks and bands of symbols, causing them to stand out sharply from the background. The color blue appears throughout the painting, with the exception of the white bands of building symbols. This helps unify the work or make the different parts seem connected. The message the painting sends is one about the importance of living together in peace and harmony with the environment.

Another artist, Mark Rothko, used a similar style of painting and composition to convey his own messages regarding the spiritual nature of existence. He was born in Russia in 1903, and given the name of Marcus Rothkowitz. His family eventually left Russia and emigrated to Oregon, in the United States, where he shortened his name.

Rothko was a very bright student and attended a major university. However, after a few years he dropped out, worked at odd jobs to make a living, and began his attempts to become an artist. He was very unsuccessful and unhappy for a long period of time because everyone, even the art critics ignored his art. However, in the 1950s all of that changed.

The new artistic style in those years was called "abstract expressionism," in which the expression of ideas and emotions played a big role in the way the subjects of paintings were presented. Rothko soon became one of the masters of this style.

In his new work, symbols and all recognizable objects (like those in Yotam's painting) gradually disappeared and in their place viewers began seeing large indistinct shapes and broad bands of colors. His paintings also grew in size; the painting shown here, titled, No. 10, is actually 229.2 x 140.4 centimeters or 90 1/4 x 57 5/8 inches. This painting, owned by The Museum of Modern Art in New York, is a good example of the way Rothko used large bands or "fields" of color in his work. The colors in the work may remind us of the natural environment and the horizon. This is partially because of Rothko's placement of the blue band with a white stripe above it. Notice the dark edges that outline the bands of color, much like those in the painting by Yotam. In Rothko's work, the dark edges seem to make the bands of color "float" above the canvas. Some of the colors also appear to come toward the viewer more than others, similar to the way the cloud in Yotam's work makes the two blocks appear to come forward.

The two works shown here by Yotam Gidron and Mark Rothko rely on similar styles of composition. Yotam's concern for protection of the environment and Rothko's concern with the spiritual nature of existence are also similar. Both have succeeded in communicating their concerns to the world in similar, yet different, ways.