Pollock or Bollock's

When I was growing up I can remember, My mum used to say that all those squiggles, lines and drips are a meaningless waste of time "how can that be art?" you know the sort of thing if you can't see what it is, then its pointless and its not art. Its not that I grew up in an uncultured household, Quite the contrary. I always viewed my parents as liberal and progressive. We used to watch news or current affairs programmes on the TV about art, history, music, science and design. Go to museums and galleries. We even had modern furniture and one chair was in that classic Bauhaus design we now see in museums. Personally I just could not see the difference between many of Picassos painting and Jackson Pollock's paintings. its just I preferred Picasso stuff.

I remember watching documentary's that they had on the TV. One was a bunch of young girls rolling around on the floor covered in paint, while some weirdo prattled on about how he was shifting the boundaries of art, or something. Another, was some Bloke with a cigarette in his mouth, muttering incomprehensibly because of it, while throwing paint all over the place, or that’s what it seamed like. It looked like a lot fun, But art ??? OK I was young and perhaps a little naïve. It all seamed like it was Big on B*** S***, Small on brains, lacking any commonsense and with far too much dope involved. As an artist. I have since tried a few of these things. Muttering with a cigarette in my mouth. Throwing paint around, even rolling around with young girls, (sadly without the paint.) OK, perhaps I am still young and a little naïve. What I can say, it is it is a lot of fun and the B*** S*** is as real today as it was then. But is it art ?

For years I just could not get my head around Jackson Pollock, It's not that I did not like his work, I just could not get my head around it. I loved Abstract Expressionism and the work of many of the great exponents, such as, Franz Kline, Rothko, Motherwell, Clyfford Still. But Pollock was Bollocks I just could not see its value and had put all the fuss down to the B*** S***. It really was as, Craig Brown, the artist, critic, and satirist said "astonished that decorative 'wallpaper', essentially brainless, could gain such a position in art history alongside Giotto, Titian, and Velazques." Or the Reynolds News in a 1959 headline said, "This is not art — it's a joke in bad taste." I continued to study his paintings as I came across them. I just could not fit them to my understanding of art, no mater which way I looked at his work.


However, when I went to the Guggenheim in New York. I got the chance to see a number of his early work, drawings and sketches and the penny dropped. For the first time I was able to put all his later paintings into context and follow the projection of his work to its understandable conclusion. Or as he, himself put it. "When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well." It is with new eyes that I now look upon the work of Jackson Pollock though I must admit that, I do not like them any more than I once did, Its just that now. I understand.

Today I am exploring and experimenting with many of Jackson’s and other artistic styles and modern painting technique which am writing about in “outside the frame” a blog that is all about exploring art, painting and media in as many different ways as possible. During these forays into this method of action painting that Jackson Pollack is so famous for I have made a number of interesting observations and insights that have increased my personal understanding of myself and modern abstract expressionist painting and have included some links for you to follow to learn more at the bottom of this article. What do you think? please leave your comments which are always valued.

drip and splash technique of painting
exploring Jackson Pollack’s  early work
Jackson Pollack and his method of action painting

So who or what was Salvador Dali?

Sitting in a café recently I was asked what I do ? "Well " I said "I paint." " What like an artist " he said. Now that’s was unusual, normally people think I'm some kind of painter & decorator. "Yes just like an Artist" I said. "So what do you paint? Stuff like Dali? I like his pictures". Pictures not Paintings, I thought well I suppose he has only seen prints and posters on the wall of his flat and only the common images we all are forced to consider as the extent of his work. "No I'm not a surrealist, I'm a modernist abstract painter" I replied and noting his blank look, added "what do you know about Dali?" He smiled, pushed aside his coffee and sat back, saying "Not as much as you I bet" . I grinned back, his smile was infectious "probably not", I said. Less than five minutes later he had gone and I was left to consider what did I know about Salvador Dali?
(Salvador Dali)

What is surrealism? The expressions of thought's without the requisite for any control, reason, physical or moral focus or presumptions. Well Dali certainly fits that picture In my view. He was an eccentric Spanish painter known for doing unusual and excessive things to draw attention to himself. He loved anything that was gilded, luxurious or going to extremes. His whole life was as surrealist, as is his work. He has been quoted as saying, "There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad." Well that’s open to debate! Perhaps we must define madness more fully. To my mind madness, momentary or lasting is simply operating outside of the normal rules of society and there's nothing wrong with that on occasions.

Whilst in Barcelona I visited a Dali exhibition and wow what an eye popper that is. The collection is full of photo's, drawings, artifacts' and memorabilia, presenting Dali as a showman. What surprised me the most was the constant reference's to sex. The drawing's in particular are full of sexual images and suggestions which seem almost pornographic and far removed from the classic examples of his work that we are most familiar with. As for the man himself? He explored many media throughout his life. painting, sculpture, writing, film and photography. In his youth, Dali had embraced both anarchism and communism. Later he supported Franco. the fascist leader of Spain. He also had a fixation with Hitler, however he was not an anti-Semite. By the time of his 1970 book Dali by Dali, he was declaring himself an anarchist and monarchist. So who or what was Salvador Dali? (Barcelona, the square neer the Dali exibition)


In my own opinion, Dali was an obsessional human being, bound, uncontrollable by his own persistence of ideas and emotions. He had a passion for art even from an early age and devoured every artistic style he came into contact with. He was a devoted husband and a showman on the verge of madness. He exploited his own madness as a showman and exaggerated his showmanship as madness. He loved living in Spain. The only time he lived in France or America was to study art or avoid war. The fact that he chose to live in Spain while it was ruled by Franco. (He was one of the few intellectuals to do so.) shows how passionate he was about his nation. I doubt very much that he truly cared about politics. But he realized it was necessary to have political views and would use them to exploit or exaggerate his own self image if necessary.

He spent his remaining years back in his beloved Catalonia. After his wife 'Gala's' death in 1982, he seams to have lost the will to live and finally died in 1989 at the age of 84 in Figueres the same town he had been born in in 1904. WOW what a life he lived. He lived it all, every minute, with out compromise and although I might not admire his work I certainly admire his life.

Louise Bourgeois at the Tate

Me and my girlfriend recently had the chance to get to the Tate Modern in London and went round the Louise Bourgeois exhibition they have on there at the moment, OH what fun…..We just loved it….all the looks we got for our laughter and giggles that we both found hard to suppress, all the sexual references and a real sense of fun which is displayed in much of her work. But that’s the point of art. To get a response, any response will do. (Someone else said that I think but I can’t remember who) anyway we can only hope to get the right one if we worked for it hard enough. The day my best friend Michael came round for a coffee. We chatted for a while telling him about what we had seen at the Tate and our thoughts about the work of Louise Bourgeois. Michael told us that while he had been studying art at Falmouth he had met her at a gallery open evening. He described her in much the same light as us. All I can say is keep up the good work Louise the world is a richer place for it.

New to this

Hi ya all, I'm Mark and I have just started this Blog on my laptop. That way my laptop won't just be collecting dust and I will have the chance to put forward my ideas and views that don't belong on my web site. I don't intend to add to my blog every day but often enough to keep it interesting and vibrant. (I hope you will find it just that way). So why a blog? I'm not a computer expert and up until a few days ago I had no real idea what a blog is for let alone how to cerate one. More new skills required. I have still got a long way to go but it all starts with the first tentative steps. Those steps stared by asking a few questions and doing a little research in to. What is a blog? Why do I need a blog? and what benefit will I get from having a blog?

The simple answer is blogs are not what I thought they were. They are not just mini web sites, or some kind of chat page or just another means of communication, that would distract me from my real purpose, painting. Of cause having a blog will help to promote Me, My work and My web site but more importantly it has proved to be a valuable tool in understanding my work, the work of others, what I'm doing and why, as well as a means to collect my thoughts and frame them in purposeful and meaningful ways.

My research led me along many paths. I looked at other peoples blogs, articles, posts and web sites. I made decisions about what I wonted to say or achieve and the feel that the blog has. I learned that content, links and pictures are what makes any blog work or fail. I found that there is a huge amount of information freely available and that communication is only one small part of being a blogger. A blog is not just one thing but rather like an car the blending of many parts to form a whole that requires fuel, time and constant maintenance to allow it to run smoothly. I found some site very helpful Like http://www.emptyeasel.com/. which has lots of good articles and the excellent articles for artists by Kirsty Hall, which I found very helpful.

The benefits are not just mine it seems. As a life time dyslexic the written language has always presented me with challenges and will continue to do so, however. I have found that this Blog and my web site have opened a world that before I had only glimpsed. In this new world of mine I know and can see that my work and my life has improved enormously as a result. If though this blog I can in some small way enrich, enlighten or uplift the lives of others as this blog has done for me then we are all one step closer to our goals.