...solemn and meditative character

Finding sacred space is a challenge in the city. One of my favorites is the Rothko room at the Tate Modern. According to the Tate's web site, Rothko was going for making

viewers feel that they are trapped in a room where all the doors and windows are bricked up, so that all they can do is butt their heads forever against the wall.

Um, I don't get that feeling there at all. No matter how many people are crammed into the museum as a whole, the room is often quiet and uncrowded. For me, it has the feel of a chapel; the flow of worship. There are nine paintings around the wide room, each shades of maroon and reds and blacks with very little form. There is enough to the shapes to move from chaos to contemplation and out towards action, however.

I was interested in coming back to the room after having lived in the desert for nine months. I had a hunch that what I came to love about the alive emptiness of the desert would correspond to these plain yet vibrant canvasses. I was right. I felt my brain go quiet in the same way it did walking out of Alice. Quiet, present, prepared.