Internal Alarm Setting Off Jackson Pollock

So, I've been planning on blogging about this for a couple days now, and since my aforementioned internal alarm clock went off at 630am on a Saturday morning, now is as good a time as any, right?

Here's the back story. I was talking with my eleven year old brother-in-law, who told me that he'd been drawing "nothing, just a bunch of scribbles" that day, which caused me to automatically reference Jackson Pollock (it just seemed natural). Brother-in-love told me that he had absolutely no interest in Jackson Pollock, whoever that was, which incited loud gasps from me. He then told me he was more of a John Wayne or Gary Cooper fan, which brought about even more loud gasping as he evidently had no clue that Jackson Pollock was an artist, not an actor. I had to 'fess up that I had no clue who Gary Cooper was, and we proposed a trade of information (although I had to IMDB Gary Cooper myself). Consequently, the following emails.

Subject: Jackson Pollock for W

Date: 14 October 2009 20:23:44 EDT

Okay! Jackson Pollock for you! The important thing you need to know about him is that he did abstract paintings that really just looked like splatters and could've been done by a two year old but (miraculously) sold for Big Bucks.

This is a picture of him painting in his studio. Don't ever pick up smoking--it's a nasty habit.

This is one of his paintings (in colour):

Here's another one of his paintings:

And last one:

Now do you understand why I referenced Jackson Pollock when you said you were drawing a picture of "nothing, just a bunch of scribbles"? Make sense?

This article gives you a short run down of why he's so famous if you want a little more info. If not, skip to the bottom:

On the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk around in it, work from the four sides and be literally `in' the painting.

-- Jackson Pollock, 1947.

Pollock, Jackson (1912-56). American painter, the commanding figure of the Abstract Expressionist movement.

He began to study painting in 1929 at the Art Students' League, New York, under the Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton. During the 1930s he worked in the manner of the Regionalists, being influenced also by the Mexican muralist painters (Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros) and by certain aspects of Surrealism. From 1938 to 1942 he worked for the Federal Art Project. By the mid 1940s he was painting in a completely abstract manner, and the `drip and splash' style for which he is best known emerged with some abruptness in 1947. Instead of using the traditional easel he affixed his canvas to the floor or the wall and poured and dripped his paint from a can; instead of using brushes he manipulated it with `sticks, trowels or knives' (to use his own words), sometimes obtaining a heavy impasto by an admixture of `sand, broken glass or other foreign matter'. This manner of Action painting had in common with Surrealist theories of automatism that it was supposed by artists and critics alike to result in a direct expression or revelation of the unconscious moods of the artist.

Pollock's name is also associated with the introduction of the All-over style of painting which avoids any points of emphasis or identifiable parts within the whole canvas and therefore abandons the traditional idea of composition in terms of relations among parts. The design of his painting had no relation to the shape or size of the canvas -- indeed in the finished work the canvas was sometimes docked or trimmed to suit the image. All these characteristics were important for the new American painting which matured in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Last bit from M. :) Hope you enjoyed learning something new. I will try to get ahold of a copy of Sergeant York before the next time I see you--but if I don't, we'll watch it together, okay? So far, the only thing I've seen that he was in was Ben Hur, and he was just an extra in that movie. Love you!

Marian

PS Hope your brother was able to be patient. msf

His response was:

Subject: Re: Jackson Pollock for W: BORING!!!

Date: 14 October 2009 20:36:42 EDT

They're just BLOBS!!! You said this guy was FAMOUS!!! Anyone could do his BLOBS!!!

W

PS: How was Gary Cooper 'cause I didn't read the email I just looked at the pictures briefly. No need to be patient. LOL! HAhahahahahahhahahhahahahhahahahhahahhahah. sorry, Where was I.....BORING!!!

My end conclusion? He'll appreciate me when he's in college and some girl that he likes starts talking about Jackson Pollock in an attempt to sound cool and sophisticated. Then he'll be glad he had such an awesome sister-in-law.