Jackson Pollack Analysis

The infamous, alcoholic, bipolar, and yet somehow unrealistically brilliant Jackson Pollack once famously stated, “every good painter paints what he is.” This statement is so utterly simple and true beyond the point of comprehension; the fact that it is the absolute very first quote that pops upon google is not nearly surprising but almost a disservice. Pollack may have been a borderline psychotic lunatic, however he was nothing short of a genius in every literal sense of the word. He was a visionary, a revolutionary and almost ahead of his time in a sense when the world was moving in a different direction by changing and breaking away from the conservative norm. As an abstract expressionist and a major part of the movement, Pollack redefined

His contribution to modern American art in both culture and society as well as the historical significance of such goes way beyond one individual piece of work that was put forth. Pollack’s various influences over his growth and maturation, coupled with his innovative ingenuity as well as his self-inflicted detriment to his own lifestyle and the manifestations of the extremes has lasting impact. He was able to experiment with new never before seen types of paints at the time, as well as altering the traditional methods in which paint was applied to canvas by essentially using whatever he wanted or saw fit at the time or even nothing at all even. The various forms of paint that he used, the different methods of application to the canvas that he incorporated, as well as something even so simple as the positioning of the canvas itself all just started as quirky ideas that once he put into action turned out to be forever lasting impacts in the art world and community that are still in effect to this

Pollack was bestowed nicknames in his day such as “Jack the Dripper” or “Action” because of his methods. What made him so unique and transcendental was the fact that he literally immersed himself within his paintings. To Pollack, a painting or a canvas was not a project or a work of art; it was literally a world which he created and existed within whilst he was occupying the area. His chaotic motions coupled with his erratic behavior were believed to have produced mathematic fractals ten years before the infamous chaos theory was even introduced. During a promotion photo shoot it was rumored that Pollack did not cease convulsing while painting for nearly an hour and ten minutes. The most intriguing concept behind all of this is that all of the movements were completely random, and the effects of such were recorded on canvas on display for everyone to see how motion directly correlated with the creation of