I'm one of those people who is mesmerized by Rothko paintings. Each time I visit San Francisco, I make a special trip to the MOMA, just to sit in front of "1960, #14". I have a Rothko as my phone background, and I write cards to friends on Rothko stationary. Yet when people ask me why I love "those simple blocks of color" so much, I can never find the words to express the way I feel when I see a Rothko. Maybe it's the, often unusual, pairing of two or three colors that works so well, or the immensity of the canvases, or the layers of colors and shades that create an endless hole into perfect nothingness. Why do these "simple blocks of color" reach so many people, calming them, making them think and appreciate the world around them? My favorite quote from Rothko is: "The subject of painting is the painting itself."