The Art of Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock (1912 – 1956) was born in Cody, Wyoming. He was one of the first American painters to become an international star and he lived up to the “rock star” reputation by living recklessly and drinking excessively. He was famed for his notorious drip paintings, including his nickname from Time magazine as “Jack the Dripper”.

(Pollock, Jackson. Blue Poles, Number 11. c. 1952. oil on canvas. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.)

In his youth, Pollock studied traditional art at the Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles. He then moved to New York and studied at the Art Students League under Thomas Hart Benton from 1929 to 1942. Soon after, he leaned toward the surrealistic style. His early work had very expressionistic strokes but, he became more interested in the act of painting itself. This action then became the subject matter as an expression of his isolation in the modern world.

(Pollock, Jackson. Eyes in the Heat. c. 1946. oil on canvas. Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice.)

Pollock began making his drip paintings in 1947. They established his reputation and completely revolutionized the process by which a painting was supposed to be made. Instead of using an easel, he laid the canvas on the floor. He then moved over the canvas and splattered or dripped paint onto it, sometimes directly from the tube or can. Instead of using brushes, he dripped the paint from a stick, poured it, flung it, or smeared it. He also used strange objects to scratch into the surface or to create a thick crust of paint.

(Pollock, Jackson. Lavender Mist, Number 1. c. 1950. oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.)

Pollock soon became a leader in the Action Painting and Abstract Expressionism movements as he paved the way for other artists to express themselves in this style. He also revolutionized the idea of composition by creating pieces that had no focal point. No one shape or object was the main focus, he treated the edges and the center the same as if all parts of the painting were equal. They were pieces as Pollock said, with “no beginning or end”.

(Pollock, Jackson. Convergence. c. 1952. oil on canvas. Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y.)

Pollock’s career was cut short by his untimely death when he died in an automobile accident but, he main a colossal impact. He turned the art world on its ear both in the United States and in Europe, forcing western society to once again as the question of “What defines a Piece of Art?” and his work is much appreciated here!

Enjoy! :) 

Reference:

• King, R. Art. New York: DK Publishing. 2008.

The Art of Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko (1903 – 1970) was originally born in Russia. His family emigrated to the United States in 1913, where he eventually became an Abstract Expressionist. His emotionally resonant use of color led him to be categorized as a Color Field painter which was an abstract style characterized by its use of large expanses of solid color. Many Color Field paintings were intended to create transcendental feelings of awe and wonder or a heightened state of consciousness on the part of the viewer.

 
(Rothko, Mark. No. 301. [Red & Blue over Red] c. 1959.
Oil & acrylic with powdered pigments on canvas.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angles, California, US.)

In the 1930s, Rothko painted in an Expressionist manner, but in the early 1940s, like many of his fellow Abstract Expressionists, he adopted a Surrealist style, drawing upon the myths of antiquity and using calligraphic, biomorphic imagery. He began to develop the distinctive style for which he is best known – featuring blocks of color – in the late 1940s.

 
(Rothko, Mark. No. 13. c. 1958.
Oil & acrylic with powdered pigments on canvas.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, US.)

Rothko said his work was about “the basic human emotions – tragedy, ecstasy, doom” and the huge size of many of his paintings seems to overwhelm the viewer and often evokes a feeling of isolation. By the end of the 1950s, his work had earned him international acclaim. Despite this, he became increasingly depressed and eventually took his own life in 1970.

 
(Rothko, Mark. Earth and Green. c. 1955.
Oil & acrylic with powdered pigments on canvas.
Museum of Ludwig, Cologne, Germany.)

To create his famous Abstract Expressionist images, Rothko worked on untreated, unprimed canvases. He applied repeated thin layers of pigmentation with light and then used fast brush strokes so that the underlying layers would show through. The result was a painting of great transparency and luminosity.

 
(Rothko, Mark. No. 20. c. 1957.
Oil & acrylic with powdered pigments on canvas.
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia.)

Rothko generally painted his rectangles with soft, uneven edges. As a result, the shapes seem to be gently hovering or floating over the canvas – even when the rectangle is of cool recessive color. His works are so simple yet to look at them in person, stirs such deep emotions and his work is much appreciated here! 

Enjoy :) 

Reference: King, R. Art. New York: DK Publishing, 2008.