More than a century ago, Paul Gauguin, a French painter of the Symbolist art movement whose later work in Tahiti helped create Primitivism, said, “The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art’s audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.”

This pessimistic viewpoint on modern art isn’t shared by the cast of John Logan’s “Red,” a two-character drama directed by Anders Cato starring Bob Ari and Randy Harrison. The play, set in the mid-20th century, is on stage at New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse through Feb. 26.

It’s a two-year study of the creation of art by real-life modernist painter Mark Rothko and his fictional apprentice, Ken. Although neither actor claims a substantial knowledge of art, both admit to appreciating and admiring Rothko’s art, if not the man who so dramatically created it.

“He was a driven man, and I admire a man so dedicated to his work. I like to think that I am equally dedicated to my calling,” says Ari, who grew up in the Yiddish theater tradition of New York City’s Lower East Side.

“Rothko spent years in poverty and obscurity and was at the top of his form in the time covered by the play,” Ari says. “That didn’t mean he was satisfied or happy. The fact that Ken can create such doubt in the mind of a man who is acknowledged as a master, a genius in his field, shows you his insecurity.”

Since Ari was playing a real person, he did considerable research into the material available about Rothko.

“When you see his work as he wanted it to be seen, in huge spaces and in conjunction with other paintings in what he called rooms, it’s impressive, palpable, alive,” Ari says. “He often painted in thin layers of differing color so that when you looked at the paintings, they almost shimmer.

“Creation was a serious duty for him, and when I smile at the curtain call, audiences are surprised that I can, for I have not smiled as Rothko for the entire duration of the play,” says Ari, who has learned to feel Rothko’s sense of exasperation.

Harrison, who spent years as a TV actor on Showtime’s controversial series “Queer As Folk,” has returned to the stage, which he learned to love during his school years. He is pleased to be working with director Cato again.

“It’s so much easier, so much more comfortable working with someone you already know and trust,” Harrison says. “This is a strenuous, active and physical show as well as a cerebral one, and having that kind of reliable communication that previous work has established is a big help.”

Harrison will be transferring to Cleveland with the show after its New Brunswick run. 
Harrison says he believes Ken is a bit brash at the beginning, especially before he really comes to appreciate and understand Rothko’s art, but as time passes, he learns by experience as well as by keen observation.

“They live and work in such close and active proximity that by the end, he’s justified in his questions and also his realization, probably long before Rothko, that the art world changes, that new things are coming along that will supersede his mentor’s acclaimed art,” Harrison says.

“He’s young and realizes that, in the modern world, nothing, even quite wonderful things, stands still.”