Hendricks says in the story, speaks outn”very, very strongly against the inhuman,nillegal, barbaric action of the UnitednStates government against Nicaragua.”nHendricks, who is apparently enamourednof useless flourishes, goes on to exclaim,n”What the government is doing there is anvery negative thing. It’s destructive; it’sndestroying the possibility of a freenculture. The United States governmentnhas a very, very bad history, or tracknrecord, of suppressing those very freedomsnwhich are now emerging in thatncountry.” Hendricks’s rhetoric has ancadence and terminology that makes it ancontemporary version of that spoutednby the artists under Guilbaut’s benignngaze, those whose formative years werenpartially sculpted by the tools of thenPopular Front. Almost as if to acknowledgenhis predecessors, Hendricksnmentions that it was a horrible thing thatnthe U.S. government didn’t immediatelynrecognize the Soviet government afternthe 1917 revolution and that, perhaps,nthe U.S. government was, consequentially,nresponsible for the suppression ofnart in the Soviet Union. If Hendricksnpaints as well as he thinks, he’d betternsend for a “sturdy canvas tote bag” andnlearn the basics.nArt critic Dore Ashton, a biographer ofnMark Rothko (a man who was as big onnpolemics during the 40’s as he was highnon art), makes her contribution to thenLatin Anlerican issue by stating in thenstory:nThere are many people who can benmoved, people of imagination, andnArtists Call can gather them together.nThey can use their imaginations tonstimulate the imaginations of othersnwho, alas, very often cannot imaginenthe death and terror of children innplaces that are being treated in such anway as we, unfortunately, we Americans,nseem to be treating them.nIf nothing else, Ashton is imaginative,nboth about what “we Americans” seemnto be doing and about Mark Rothko’sncontributions. If those who upholdnrepresentative, or illustrative, art have antendency to be somewhat crude in theirnexpressions, those who are otherwisendirected often suffer from too muchnimagination, something that Ashtonncan’t get enough of For example, aboutnone of the large panels that Rothkonpainted for the Society of Fellows atnHarvard University Ashton writes:nA fiery orange-red form is suspendednlike a flaming hoop in purple spaces,nan apparition that appears in its ownnKalheriiK’I li’pbum.lhe shilling ill 111 oinri’riiMiis( myllKilogy anil ihe perl’i-ilnenibi)ilinii.’iil oiwhai ci-rlainly can hiili-scribi-dna.>- Ihi- lii>t in thi- inoik-rnneinaiu’ipalion coiuepl aiul indcpen’n(IciKC’-^yiulldllU-:nWoimn IIKI.I .lie in .1 liniliiy [(iiis;linpi><i.ar> .ii;i’. «iuii I wa- 1. I wmi- paiilsn^lIl•n JI(IIIIHI (.’hi’ilid. aiiil I’ve Icil a lilcnIhai iiii^lil hi’i’DnsiiUrcd liiialK i-niaiuipaiid.nI aNi il«liiviMiiiKri an-Mi|)iTiiirn111 iiii’ii in main \as–ilii liai- in hi-,nhi’iaiisi’IIK’ liai.’iiviiK’iuliiuslv niiiclinmore dillKiill iliniiis i‘r Uiiiicnh:ill liiilay. W’liiMi’iisiiiipK aivnni nu’ii.n.mil 11 w I- iliiiik wv .iiv. wi’ii- niakini’ ,1 hii;nmisi:iki’ I lliink I’M-Inol ,1 mnncari’lulnnail ihaii wnmiii iinlav IHI.UIM- Ivi-nl-U’t’liii)i Truthsnnntheater with its own transformingninner stage lights. It too is susceptiblento time, and as it is contemplated, thenlow rectangular knot—the plaquettensuspended on a horizontal line that isnrepeated top and bottom in eachnpainting—becomes a glowing coal,nwith thicker brush marks and vermilionnsplashes like lambent sparks.nFlaming hoops, theaters, stage lights,ncoals, sparks: an over-heated imagination.nRothko, a troubled man who ultimatelyntookhis own Ufe, clearly meant toncommunicate something (values,nAshton thinks, but then she happened tonbe pals with the guy, and he could havenslipped the word to hex),possibly to thenviewers of his work. The question aboutnRothko’s message stems in part from thenfact that while he was a public artist (i.e.,nhe put his canvases on display), he,nduring his mature period, aimed atnexpression through what he construednas private means. In one instance he hadna falling out with architect PhilipnJohnson over what has become knownnas The Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas,n.liw.u-. riiii};iii/iil lliai wi- ri- -n \.rnililkTini i’niiiKill riiar-< »’li I saiilnllial iil will’ a man liiila> I IMMIIIIU’InmaiiA a wimaiiwilli.ii’iii’i’ir. I uinilJn’inhi’ ili.il hiu a liKil.n^ ^ H 3 3nMay 1984n