Understanding the painting of Jackson Pollock, an artist who shook the art world and came to symbolize the American spirit and even freedom itself.
Jackson Pollock is a difficult artist for many to appreciate. Understanding his influences & artistic process is key to understanding and enjoyment. Pollock was an artist fascinated with myth, and poetically, became a myth himself.
In his seminal essay, The American Action Painters, art critic Harold Rosenberg described the abstract expressionist as a “vanguard painter [who] took to the white expanse of the canvas as Melville’s Ishmael took to the sea.” In the public consciousness, abstract expressionism came to represent pure possibility. And no one benefited more from this myth-making than Jackson Pollock. Who cares if Rosenberg didn't have Pollock in mind when he wrote American Action Painters, or that Rosenberg disliked the mass media culture surrounding Pollock. Rosenberg gave the abstract expressionist a soul. He defined a will to power. Jackson Pollock's painting was now a heroic act.
References & Credits:
New Art City by Jed Perl
The Free World by Louis Menand
MOMA.org
New Yorker
Alliedworks.com
Wikipedia
Thomas Griesel
Music:
Singing Bowl Meditation: Humans Win
Classical Noble Strings: Bobby Cole
Film Theme: Spencer Rabin
Miles to Go: Gary Franks
Like Miles: Unknown Author
Jazz: Paul Whittle
Ambient Space Meditation: Malkovich Studio