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