Monday, May 19, 2008

Why I Like Jackson Pollock












We had this discussion with my brother in law Danny about Mr. Pollock's work. Danny hates it and thinks the guy is not a true artist and is a fraud. So I thought I would find what I could about Jackson Pollock in response to why I personally like his work. I wouldn't say he is my all time favorite artist. I am a realist myself, but I can appreciate several different kinds of art. I love impressionism, renaissance art, gothic art, etc. But I can find the interesting parts of some abstract work. Not all of it, but some. Jackson Pollock is one of the abstract artists that I actually enjoy. Picasso has a few that I feel are okay as well.


Why do I like Pollock then? I feel like his paintings are very movement oriented. Which is what he did when he painted. He painted with his whole body and used his energy to paint what he felt. To me they look like the color is alive. They resemble the colors of quilts, only he used paint. His painting was unconventional, no one did it like this. He even used sand sometimes and glass to get the right affects he wanted. I myself have tried to throw color around before to feel free with my painting. The results looked more like junk. He said in response to critics saying that his paintings were all accidents, that he always had a clear idea of what he wanted the paint to look like and when he got too far away from that idea it looked like a mess. It is not as easy as it looks to paint abstractly and have it appear that that is what you meant to do. I love how free his paintings look. I find often with myself that mine are tight and controlled. Too tight and too controlled. Sometimes I just want to break out of my paintings and be a little more like Jackson Pollock. He really did use paint as a way of expression and I personally love his stuff. I would hang a Pollock in my house- next to one of my own paintings of course. :)


And if you want to feel a little like Jackson Pollock does, check out this fun website.
Jackson Pollock

3 comments:

The Kooky Queen--Rachel said...

"He said in response to critics saying that his paintings were all accidents, that he always had a clear idea of what he wanted the paint to look like and when he got too far away from that idea it looked like a mess." Jessica...from the looks of it, I don't think that Pollock ever had a clear idea of what he wanted the paint to look like. All of his works look like messes.

-Danny (The antipollock movement)

Jessica said...

Right, right you can think that Danny. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Which is why it is art. I just disagree. I think they are really good. They look like controlled messes to me, not just a mess. When I do abstract, they look like a mess.

Jessica said...

Ooo, not to mention Danny, you know impressionism was once thought to be fraudulent because it wasn't what others were doing. Some of the best art comes from what has never been done before. Impressionism was like that and the "greats" hated it, but look at it today.