Writer and Psychologist
About
What are you doing today in your career?
Although, of course, psychologically informed, my work for the past fifteen years has been exclusively in the world of art, where I manage the legacy of my father, Mark Rothko, in many different ways. These involve, primarily, organizing, and occasionally curating, exhibitions, maintaining and enriching our archive, and researching, writing and lecturing about the work. I have edited and published my father’s book of philosophical writings and, most recently, I published a book of eighteen of my own essays about his work, Mark Rothko from the Inside Out (Yale University Press, 2015).
What inspires you?
I continue to be inspired by the great artistic achievements of human kind in musical, literary, architectural and painted form. Perhaps ironically, this passion is what brought me to psychology to begin with, as I always found myself wrestling with these works on a psychological level, and appreciating them as embodiments and expressions of the human spirit.
What impact has your Psychology degree at UM had on your career or life?
My psychological training has given me deeper insight into human interaction and reaction, most especially in how we respond to art -- the psychological processes involved in viewing (or listening). Interacting with art is an essentially human interaction that is simply mediated by the work of art.
What do you remember most about your time at UM?
Other than six disheartening losses by my Buckeyes in the Big House (remember those days?) I most remember a terrific cohort of students genuinely committed to psychological exploration in many guises, and a faculty that not only trained us but also encouraged that exploration. As a clinical area student I can add that I had many hours of supervision with a variety of faculty that added great richness to my understanding (and appreciation) of human behavior.
What advice would you give to aspiring Psychology students?
I would encourage psychology students to remember that, no matter how great the scientific advances in understanding of the brain, there are aspects of mind conscious that will probably never be fully measurable or that stem from such a multiplicity of factors that outcomes remain nonlinear and largely unpredictable. It is for addressing those factors and those interactions that the art of psychology was born.
