In 1999, New Scientist magazine argued that written text can be understood even if we rearrange the letters inside a word, as long as the first and last letter remain in their places. However, this little vocabulary twist, visible in ROHTKO at the level of the title, sets the wider horizon of the difficult relationship between reality and fake. For can a faked image evoke real emotion? Or is it possible for an original painting to cause only fake emotions? What determines the value of art? Can good art be cheap? What is good art? What is art? And what is it for?

Alternative answers can be sought in the Chinese concept of shanzhai, as written about by cultural theorist Byung Chul Han, which negates the arbitrary division between copy and original. In the art world and the world in general. The answer can be sought in the Chinese concept of shanzhai, which cultural theorist Byung Chul Han wrote about, and which negates the arbitrary division between copy and original. In the art world and in the world in general. A division that assumes that the original is the original residual of truth, value and uniqueness and that the copy is a worthless entity, a simulacrum, a fake. Chinese thought leads in a different direction – close to the one that Rothko’s thought paradoxically hooks us on – a painter who did not paint a picture that sold for $8.5 million.