Action painting, physical commitment and emotional struggle made Jackson Pollock one of the most interesting American artists of the 1900s. By choosing to abandon the easel and painting directly on the canvas laid out on the floor, Pollock with his dripping has revolutionized the very concept of a work of art.
Rhythm of Autumn It is one of Pollock's most famous drippings not only for its gigantic size but above all for the restless energy that draws you like a magnet into its web of swirls and splashes. This work, like many others, is based on the concept of automatism already famous with the surrealists. In practice, the artist allows his subconscious to guide his hand and his movements. In fact, Pollock does not program this one or his other works. He does not start the painting by thinking of a finished image already but allows it to develop as he works.
The main feature of this work is the movement. The tangle of lines, sketches and dots looks almost explosive. The energetic and dance-like movements of Pollock were in fact translated into movements of random signs in the work.
From a technical point of view Pollock makes his teardrop paintings called dripping in a barn in his home in East Hampton, Long Island. His method is famous as action painting.
The artist unrolls a large canvas on the floor of his studio so that he can walk around it and stretches out to be able to pour or throw the color where he wants. Sometimes he even treads on the canvas when he deems it necessary. And his painting tools vary from wide brushes to sticks to even knives at times.
For this reason there is no focal point in the composition and the center of the painting is no more or less important than the edges. Furthermore, then in the case of works of enormous dimensions such as Autumn Rhythm, the influence in the colors of the epic landscapes of the west where Pollock grew up are evident.
In terms of colors, Pollock also prefers to use acrylics instead of the classic oil on canvas, for example. it is a very popular choice in the middle of the 1900s both in America and in Europe and still remains a favorite of many artists today because, objectively, the acrylic color is more fluid. Pollock uses only four colors in this painting. He begins by casting a thin layer of black paint onto the canvas with a stubby brush. The canvas is not prepared, so the paint sinks and is captured by the fabric. Thus the texture of the canvas remains visible. Then it continues with an intricate web of white, brown and blue-gray lines. He almost wedges these lines between those black lines and manages to balance the entire structure of the work to perfection.
This energetic form of action painting and Pollock's total mental absorption in the creative process certainly made him famous but above all allowed him to create truly powerful lines and arcs in the composition of this work.
His innovative style remains in history. Probably because it is original but at the same time because it drew from a wide range of different influences, from Picasso to Surrealism to the artists of the Mexican mural movement, such as Orozco and Siqueiros. But also to the theories of the unconscious and Native American works of art. And indeed, his unusual working methods are often described as ritualistic. And this painting was made at the height of Pollock's career, during a relatively stable period in his turbulent personal life. His free, fluid style, delicate tones and complex mesh structure show his mastery of color and the influences of different cultures in its most expressive form.
00:00 Intro
00:33 Analysis
02:06 Action Painting
04:04 Pollock
05:57 Influences
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Clelia
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Clelia
21 июл 2024
