“I want to make sure I’m responsibly representing this sacred and historic space – while simultaneously introducing disruption into its existence.”
EAn kotard, 2021
I’m Ean Kotard, an artist. My art calls me to monumental bodies of work and exploration through installations and other forms of artistic expressions of the same physical presence. For many years I’ve been working on a project called Narkissos, an installation where the human is observed from different angles of physicality, from a zenithal point.
Narkissos uses kineticism to create a particular composition, captured permanently by a series of photographs. There’s more information about this project in my personal blog but the point is that this project was never completed due to the necessary budget. To overcome financial constraints, I have begun exploring scale prototypes, which are slightly more budget friendly.
The geometry of the Rothko Chapel and the overall feeling of soberness that it invokes on the visitor immediately spoke to me. I pictured my beloved Narkissos in the center of this space. It made sense; a perfect tridimensional canvas where the Narkissos (Narcissus, named after the flower) could bloom.
The first scale prototype of Narkissos wasn’t based on any predefined scale and it was more of a free exploration – closer to a 1:24 scale. It was to me a prototyping exercise to understand the mechanics and other physical aspects and properties at an early stage of the design. It is amazing how scale prototyping really helps with this aspect and I’m thankful for my friend Arik Trejos and other architects’ explanation of this method, “a visual sketching or tridimensional sketching” (30X40 Design Workshop, 2021).
A “tridimensional sketching” (30X40 Design Workshop, 2021), enables the understanding of mechanics and other physical aspects at an early stage of design.
This model of sketching opened new possibilities to me and I started to think more carefully about it as a project. All this was happening c.2016-2018. Later, in the middle of the pandemic, a friend referenced the Shelter in Place Gallery, a 1:24 scale building that aims “to make gallery exhibitions more accessible to artists, especially during lockdowns” (Shelter in Place Gallery, 2020). The dots in my mind connected once again and my dream of exposing Narkissos at the Rothko Chapel was illuminated in my mind for the first time. I knew about the diorama realm, scale sketching and overall scale modeling but the Shelter in Place Gallery concept really made the difference and showed me the way to Rothko Chapel 112.
“The size of the gallery allows for artists to create ambitious installations without the budget and space it generally requires.”
— Shelter in Place Gallery, 2020
Very soon I understood that this cannot and shouldn’t be just for me, this needs to be available to all artists. Just like the original chapel and the vision of the De Menil to have an “inherently democratic” space (Sotheby’s, 2021), this chapel will continue with the democratization, now on a different scale (pun intended). I’m deeply in love with art, not only as a creator but also as an admirer. It might sound redundant but to me it is a separate activity, even a trait, to admire art “just because.”
Rothko Chapel 112 is based on original blueprint and information gathered through research. Rothko Chapel staff and architecture team helped gathering the floor plan, blueprint and details like walls height and exact paint color.
Everything made sense and here I am.
Since then, I’ve been plotting the conception of this gallery, understanding that this is a project in itself, far from Narkissos. I am making sure I’m responsibly representing this sacred and historic space – while simultaneously introducing disruption into its existence.
I started the work on Rothko Chapel 112 in 2019 and despite the fact it has yet to be inaugurated, I have decided to launch the website and officially call the project open in 2021, celebrating the Rothko Chapel’s 50th anniversary.
I’m thrilled you are here and greatly appreciate it. On behalf of this organization, I welcome you to Rothko Chapel 112.
Ean Kotard, owner.
References
Shelter in Place Gallery. (2020). About. Shelter in Place Gallery. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from https://www.shelterinplacegallery.com/
Sotheby’s. (2021, February 5). Contemporary Conversations: The Rothko Chapel. YouTube. Retrieved April 21, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7X56O_sPF4
30X40 Design Workshop. (2021, February 14). How I Sketch + Design Architectural Details. YouTube. Retrieved April 27, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8gTCuvQxBc