Rothko in Rice

Mark Rothko's defaced painting inspired photography Henry Hargreaves (previously on Neatorama) to recreate the artist's famous artwork.

Hargreaves told us that after hearing the story, he found that Rothko was commissioned by the Seagram company to paint an installation for The Four Seasons restaurant in New York in 1958. Rothko, who despised the excess and pretense of the elite crowd the restaurant was hoping to attract, accepted the commission. He claimed that he tried to create "something that will ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room. If the restaurant would refuse to put up my murals, that would be the ultimate compliment. But they won’t. People can stand anything these days." The painting that was defaced is one of the paintings in the Seagram series.

So, together with chef and stylist Caitlin Levin, Hargreaves decided to bring the tale full circle and reinterpreted the work with something edible: rice! Link - Thanks Henry!

Take a look at more after the jump: