What is Art The Art of Jackson Pollock - Essay Example

Essay What is Art? Art can be described differently by different people but when I look at art I think it can be many things. Graffiti on the side of a building can be an effective art piece as well as something in an art museum. I see art as the expression that someone does to make a statement in the world. This statement can be limited to just the expression of an emotion about something of interest to the author, or it can be the expression of a specific social topic that someone feels is important. A good example of art is the cave paintings that primitive man made (Getlein 5). The reason this is art to me is because someone is capturing the event of hunting as they saw it. They are recording something about their everyday life and it is on the cave for anyone to see. These paintings have been seen by many different people over many years. In one sense, this art has lasted through time. Stonehenge (Getlein 6) is also a fascinating aspect of art because it is similar to architecture . It is much like the Pyramids because people are wondering how these were built and why. Stonehenge makes people think and wonder about who put these stones together and why. This is another essential part of art in my opinion: It must make people think and wonder why the artist created this piece. I think that art must make people feel something, even if it is something small. In the example of the cave paintings, I wonder why these hunters thought it was important to make the drawings. Were they bragging about the hunt that day? Were they counting their hunts? Only they would know. Stonehenge makes me wonder about why these stones were dragged to this particular spot and arranged in the way they are arranged. It is interesting to me that the book said that this was a graveyard and that it marked about 240 graves (Getlein 6); this is much like our cemeteries today. Many people go to our graveyards and do etchings of the older gravestones because they consider it art. When I pick art myself, I look for symmetry and the way it feels to me. Some pieces of art speak to me differently than others. As an example, I may pick a piece of art for my wall that has vibrant colors that are symmetrically placed in a abstract form. I also have picked pieces because they look interesting or because the scene describes something that is interesting to me. I cannot say that I like the kind of art that the Masters created. I am not sure why, but I think it is because it is usually of some scene, people or subjects that I find uninteresting. I can say that I like some of Picasso’s work because it was very strange and it does make a person wonder why he did what he did. Was the fractured way that he looked at this the way that he saw the world? I do believe that anything can be art. The unfortunate issue is that there are art critics who decide what art is and what art is not. I think that everyone becomes an art critic when they look at a piece of art and they do not need others to define what art is for them. In other words, there are so many different ways that art can be interpreted, that it seems a shame that art critics are allowed to define art. I enjoy looking at art and I hope that this class will bring me more knowledge about what I am looking at on a deeper level than I have seen in the past. Essay 2: Discuss Two-Dimensional Media. Give example of artist, media and a piece that appeals to you. The book describes two-dimensional art as something very simple and easy to read. The media can be anything from drawing with pencil and ink on paper to creating images on clay or the cave wall. The book mentions many media that include graphite, metalpoint, charcoal, pastels and more. I have seen many artists pencil drawing (graphite) which creates an interesting effect when the artist uses shading and contrast in their drawing. I think metalpoint provides a beautiful array of interesting and eye-catching symmetrical shapes. I can understand why most people do not use this method anymore because as the book says, it is unforgiving and does not allow the artist to make changes (Getlein 144-145). Because of this it seems that there would be challenges for the artist in preserving their work and producing a lot of it at a time. The use of charcoal seems to me to be a messy business because the charcoal has a tendency to smudge. The charcoal picture, “Three Mile Island” by Yvonne Jacquette (Getlein 147) is intriguing because the use of the tracing paper makes a very interesting effect. I like this type of piece because the artist was creative and used a medium that is not often seen. Crayon, pastel and chalk would also seem to be very messy in attempting to execute them in a painting that was beautiful. Crayon seems more primitive than the other two, but perhaps this is because we think about crayons as something that children use rather than what an artist would use. Degas seemed to use a lot of pastel and he made it work. His “The Singer in Green” (Getlein 148) is interesting because it is difficult to see that this individual is a performer, or someone standing in a field. What makes the difference is the yellow in the painting that could be interpreted as stage lighting that is used to somewhat illuminate the woman in the painting. I think that pen and ink is a very good medium to use because someone who knows how to use it well can create a variety of effects using it. As an example, Rembrant’s “Cottage Among Trees” (Getlein 149) gives the impression that the cottage has been there for many years and may not have been taken care of too well. The trees look as if they are swaying in a breeze and there is a hint of a lake to the right of the painting. The focus was the cottage and this is what draws the viewer into the drawing. Two dimensional media seems to give the individual a way to create a small aspect of what they see. It promotes the artist’s ability to capture a snapshot of what they are doing without going into much depth. Although they can use perspective, the two dimensional drawing or painting can only go so far to make the viewer feel the painting because it does not use a lot of depth. For some artists, it seems that two dimensions allow them to express themselves in a way that using more media may not. As an example, Julie Mehretu’s “Untitled” drawing looks like it was a sketch rather than a full drawing. It seems that she was experimenting with the media although it is supposed to be a painting of wind. The viewer can see the wind blowing everything around and it does have the feeling of everything being blown around so in that sense (evoking a feeling) it can be considered art. Two dimensional media seems to be limited in that one can only create what the media will allow. I am not sure how to explain this, but I see it as a limiting way to do something and it probably is most useful when the artist is making preliminary sketches or when they want to do something quickly. They could develop this sketch later, sell it as is, or make it a part of their collection that others do not see. I do not see it as something that would be very popular for a long time if that is all that the artist produced. Essay 3: Discuss your favorite piece of architecture and why it appeals to you Because I enjoy symmetrical shapes in nature and in art, I like the geodesic dome. I think this is an interesting piece of architecture because it is so intricate. The book says that this is “formed by a network of metal rods arranged in triangles and further organized into tetrahedrons” (Getlein 301). In looking at this architecture it is beautiful. It creates a variety of feelings and they are all good ones. The enormity of the dome is one factor that interests me and the fact that many people choose to live in this type of construction. I researched these domes and found that these domes are actually based on geometry. At the website, synergetics, the author stated that “Geodesic domes are fractional parts of complete geodesic spheres”. Also, there are different frequencies that domes have that relates to how the triangles are broken down into subdivisions. This was interesting to me because I did not really think about this being a geometric figure but when I thought about it more, I realized that because it was a circle it would have to be designed in such a way that the structure would work; hence, the geometric design. I read the book more thoroughly and found that the book mentions that it is a geometric form and that it was a very strong design. Perhaps this is the reason why so many people use this as their home. I would think that it would withstand earthquakes and tornadoes or some of the other types of natural disasters. I also think that this is an interesting design because all of the space inside the dome can be used. There are no external walls or beams to be considered so the use of space makes more sense than in some other types of architecture. The textbook also states that there are many ways to control climate and light control inside the dome (Getlein 301). I would think that this would mean that there is some interesting energy inside these domes and this made me want to find one that I could visit. The textbook states that this dome was made popular at the 1967 World’s Fair. This was interesting to me because I could imagine someone going to the World’s Fair and seeing this giant dome. I would think that it was one of the many spectacles for that fair especially since people had not seen such a structure. I like this type of architecture also for its versatility. The fact that it can be built in any size and it can work in any temperatures is amazing to me. There are many other building materials that cannot withstand as much heat or cold. The textbook states that Antarctica has used this design because it is a design that can be created quickly, can withstand extremely cold temperatures, withstand high winds, is lightweight and the inside of the dome’s temperature can be controlled (Getlein 307). This fascinates me and I wonder why more people are not using this structure, especially in places where there are high winds, flooding or lots of sand. I would think this would be the architecture of choice for many countries as well as many regions. As I was researching this topic, I also found that there were a variety of websites (millions of them) that had instructions for how to build your own geodesic dome home and to use the structure for many different things. I would think that as countries continue to think about a green economy that this type of architecture would also be made more often. I was interested in Buckminster Fuller and found that there is an entire institute that was created for his work. At the institute there was a section that told more about him and it said that he was an inventor, he worked in many different fields, and he wanted to make the world better for all humanity (Buckminster Fuller Institute “About Bucky”). This seemed like a description of an artist to me because he understood that he could best do his work by making life work for others. Essay 4: Discuss Postmodern art from the Sixties and Seventies and why it or if it appeals to you. Postmodern art seems to be somewhat interesting depending on the individual’s work that is described. There are many things about this time period that did not make sense to me as art, but some of it was not appealing to me. As discussed in the textbook, postmodern art developed in New York rather than Paris after World War II. This was a particularly good time for a variety of artists who had been exiled from their own countries during the war. Also, this was a time when The Museum of Modern Art and Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of the Century were prevalent (Getlein 496). What seemed to be interesting in modern art was that artists seemed to try and adapt to new styles. They were not content to follow what other artists had done before them, but they wanted to create something that had not been seen previously. A good example of this was Lichtenstein who did art that looked like the comic books during that time. His art had full, vibrant colors and he captured the sense of comics that people were attracted to at the time. The art that did not make a lot of sense to me in this time was Minimal Art. Getlein states that the point of this art was to “rid art of representation … by making ‘specific objects’ that could be understood as nothing but themselves” (505). This seemed silly to me because any one could start something and call it art. I am not sure that I would qualify this as art because it does not evoke any emotion in the process. As an example, although the piece by Donald Judd was colorful (505), it lacked any feeling. The materials were Plexiglas and brass which gave it color, but it did not give it feeling. Of course, during this time, it was not supposed to do anything but look like Plexiglas and brass so the individual did what they set out to accomplish, but I still wonder why it is supposed to be art. I can say that I liked the examples of Photorealism in the book. The reason I liked it was because the artist Don Eddy was creative in the way he displayed his work. He was able to capture not only the realistic things from the photo, but he was also able to capture the sunlight that shone on the window display and the view from the window that a person would have if they were looking into the mirror. I thought this was a very interesting painting because there was so much to see and it was not cluttered. One interesting aspect of this time period was that one can see an evolution of art that was constantly moving. Each period grew upon the other and it was like looking at a variety of theories. As an example, although art was done in Paris until after World War I, when it came to America to the New York School, it seemed to have a variety of artists who were not attempting to copy the masters, but who were more involved with showing art for art’s sake. They were creating aspects of what was being called art that was not very artistic in my opinion. However, they had a place in the evolution of art during that time and this probably created a wider variety of opportunity for artists today. One thing that is certain is that this time period was one where people were expressing themselves and not necessarily attempting to sell their art but were more involved with showing it because they felt like it. As stated previously, I did not totally like this period of art, but I did like some of the artists in it. I think that the ones who seemed more creative were more interesting (the ones I have already described) and some of the art was very functional. One other part I liked was Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party. I have friends who talked about this and said it was very interesting to walk around the table and see what she designed. I think she presented a very important aspect of feminism that she displayed in her artwork. Works Cited Buckminster Fuller Institute. “About Bucky”. 2010. Web. 27 December 2011. < http://bfi.org/about-bucky> “Geodesic Domes: The Geometry”. n.d. Web. 27 December 2011. < http://www.grunch.net/synergetics/domes/domegeo.html> Getlein, Mark. Living with Art, 9th Edition. ebook. Web. Name of Student Name of Professor Name of Class Date The Art of Jackson Pollock 1 Introduction Jackson Pollock is considered an Abstract Expressionist and many people have loved his work and continue to love it today. Pollock was the master of what he called “the drip technique” which meant that he literally dripped paint onto the canvas (Getlein 497). Pollock was considered one of the best Abstract Expressionists of his time and he began painting late in the 1940s. It was interesting that one of the critiques during the time said that these paintings were “action paintings” because they were not done to show an image but rather as a result of some action that the painter did. In Pollock’s case, the action was to drip paint all over the canvas and see what it looked liked afterward. He was intent on covering every inch of the canvas possible. Since then, critiques have called Pollock’s work “nonrepresentational” (Getlein 497) because it really does not represent anything, but it also is not really abstract in the most literal sense. 2 Postmodern Art and the Abstract Expressionists Pollock painted during the Postmodern period of art and he was considered an Abstract Expressionist. The New York School was the beginning of postmodern art and was also referred to as Color Field Painting (Gersh-Nesic par. 1). This method of painting has also been referred to as Gestural Abstraction because the brush stroke that the artist uses gives detail as to their process (Gersh-Nesic par. 2). This is apparent in Pollock’s work because the swaying of his body over the canvas and other aspects (discussed later in this report) created certain effects on the canvas. This style was also influenced by three different foundations: “Kandinsky's abstraction, the Dadaist's reliance on chance, and the Surrealist's endorsement of Freudian theory” (Gersh-Nesic par. 3). There were many artists in the postmodern era who met through the New York School or through interaction at Greenwich Village or the Works Progress/Project Administration during the Depression. This was an interesting period because it seemed that many of the artists would use the experiences they had during this period to center themselves in the art world. They would move away from the styles of form, shapes and composition and move towards a more abstract style that did not make sense to many critics at that time. Pollock is a good example of this because most people wanted to try to categorize his work while he was painting. This was one of the reasons why he stopped naming his paintings and gave them numbers instead. He wanted people to see his paintings from their own perspectives instead of having them look at what he had written and then try to “see” his title in the painting. Some of the key characteristics of this particular style include: The use of different colors, unconventional ways of applying the paint and uses amorphous shapes rather than specific subjects. Using a variety of ways to put paint onto canvas that includes dripping, slathering, smearing, flinging or other ways that the artist can think of to create the work. Gestural “writing” can be used as though it is scribbled into the paint; this is one of the techniques that Pollock always used (Gersh-Nesic par. 10). An interesting aspect of this period was that it developed because of each individual artist. In other periods of art, the artists were grouped together because they tended to follow each other and create art in the same way as others of that period. This type of painting has evolved since the 1940s and it continues to evolve today (Gersh-Nesic par. 9). 3 Outside Influences on Pollock’s Art When looking at the outside influences of Pollock’s work, this researcher decided to look at Pollock as the man he was because this is important to what he did. Pollock suffered from many emotional challenges in his life possibly brought on by alcoholism. He was also emotionally troubled and entered psychotherapy in an attempt to control his alcoholism (Getlein 498). In 1938, Pollock suffered an emotional breakdown that would take him into treatment with Jungian psychologists for the next three years. Pollock used many of his drawings in psychotherapy to advance in his treatment, but he was never able to stop drinking. Although he married Lee Kastner in 1948 and she was a strong influence on him, he still continued to drink. Pollock was an extreme introvert and stated that he felt most at peace when he was painting. He was able to get into the painting by placing his canvas on the floor and the work could totally consume him (Getlein 498). This method of painting could have been somewhat therapeutic for him as well. Pollock died in 1953 just after he finished a final painting. Although the world would miss him, many collectors and fans have found ways of immortalizing him on thousands of websites. The influence of his alcoholism and his emotional challenges, in this researcher’s opinion actually would determine his color choices and the other elements that he would sometimes put into his paintings. It was as though is painting was one big experiment. As an example, he could put the canvas on the floor and start putting paint onto it. However, one could almost hear him thinking things like…”hmmm…I wonder what would happen if…” Then he would put something else into the painting. In one description of his work, it seemed that he was not interested in creating art to sell or creating the art for people to critique or give him accolades about the work. Instead, he was doing this work purely for himself. I think that great artists create works of art that is based on their own interpretation of the world and the influences the world has on their own perception. Pollock is a great example of this because he did not allow others to tell him what to do. He studied the works of other artists but he created what – 4 Pollock’s Color Palette and Style As with most artists, Pollock’s choice of colors were his own. One can see that he gravitated towards the darker colors rather than the brighter ones. There is a lot of black, yellow and white in his paintings. It would seem that the colors he used were limited but this may have partially been because he used commercial paint rather than painter’s paint. In other words, he could purchase regular house paint because this paint was more available during the time period. According to Marion Boddy-Evans Pollock used glossy enamel paint because he was able to purchase it more often because it was less expensive than regular artist’s paint (par. 3). In this writer’s opinion, this also allowed him to work more quickly in a bigger space. In this way, he was not restricted by a small artist’s brush and he could keep a flow going in both his thought processes and in his artistic style. Some of the way that Pollock used paint was inspired by Indian Sand painting and “the Mexican muralists and Surrealist automatism” (“Jackson Pollock par. 12). It seems that Pollock enjoyed his style because it was created from both controlled aspects (his body movements) and uncontrollable aspects (the paint drizzling on the canvas, the canvas itself and gravity). Each of these elements presented an understanding to Pollock about how he wanted the painting to appear on the canvas. J.L. Minkle states that Pollock actually used geometric fractals in his work. Although Pollock probably did not start out to do this, this identification has been used to tell authentic Pollock paintings from forgeries. However, this is controversial for some because Pollock did not use fractals in all of his paintings; instead, what he did was more random. In fact, Pollock was nicknamed, “Jack the Dripper” because of his dripping technique. Pollock also suffered from chronic depression, which in some ways may have influenced his color choices. As one example of how depression can influence color, Stephanie Pappas cites a study that was done with both healthy adults and adults suffering from depression, which showed certain color, were more prevalent for people who suffered depression. The study placed colors on a color wheel (see below) and asked people to pick their favorite colors. The study found that grey was a common color for people with depression (numbers 34-37 on wheel) and he color of grey would depend on the mood and the level of anxiety or depression the individual was feeling. In the diagram to the left, one can see the various colors that were used. Blue (number 27 on wheel) was the shade that many depressed people chose, as well as yellow. In terms of day to day feelings people who were healthy said yellow (number 14) was their favorite color for day to day, but people with anxiety showed shades of gray. The researchers felt that these results could be a way to tell when children were suffering from specific moods. When looking at Pollock’s work, the colors of grey, white and black are prominent with a few blues (more the shades of 27 and 28 on the wheel), yellow (shade 15). Reds (number 3 primarily) and a bluish green was used. These colors correspond to his feelings of depression. Depression may have influenced his painting and this could have been the only way that he was able to alleviate the anxiety he may have felt due to his drinking. Many commentators and critics said that he was a very men man when he was drunk and he was violent towards his wife. If this was true, painting could have been the only way that he was able to curtail his feelings since he was not communicating them verbally. 5 Jackson Pollock and Various Medias Pollock began his work with glossy enamel paint that was traditionally used for painting houses. He left the convention of regular oil points that artists often used, brushes and small canvases because he wanted to create in a larger space. He began using enamel house point because it was very easy to find and it was economical. Since he created most of his work in a barn, he had a large area within to work. Pollock’s last work entitled, “Blue Poles, Number 11, 1952” (shown here) used enamel and aluminum paint and pieces of glass in order to create the effect (White “Blue Poles”. This painting seems more intense than many of the others and uses more yellow and red than he used in the past. This was probably one of the brightest paintings he did in this media. Another painting, Lavender Mist: Number 1. 15- (shown here) is a lighter painting using only the colors of black, yellow, green and white, but Pollock used oil, aluminum on canvas, oil on canvas and enamel in this painting (Nicholas Pioch 2002). Although they are very different in how they looked, Pollock used similar media throughout all his work. In the first years of his work, it seemed that Pollock spent most of his time using oil on canvas rather than any other media, according to the various paintings available on the Internet. As he began to experiment with paint in his later years, he added other media like glass to his work. Perhaps he was looking for a variety of ways to express himself through is work. 6 Conclusion The life of Jackson Pollock was tumultuous at best because of his alcoholism and his depression. Critics state that he was an alcoholic, a wife beater and suffered all his life from depression. Many artists have these challenges at one time in their lives and like other artists, Pollock did not allow these issues to stop him from producing work. He was seen as a genius then and people still believe that his work is worthy of discussion. Pollock was the first artist to create the “drip” technique and he used house paint when others were using traditional oil paint. Being able to use cans of paint instead of small tubes of paint, helped Pollock to be able to create more freely and more openly. Jackson Pollock in some ways was ahead of his time because he broke with tradition and refused to create specific objects; instead, he wanted people to approach his paintings with their own objectivity instead of attempting to “see” something in his paintings. Works Cited Boddy-Evans, Marion. “What Paint Did Pollock Use?” About.com: Painting. 2011. Web. 29 December 2011. < http://painting.about.com/od/colourtheory/a/Pollock_paint.htm> Gersh-Nesic, Beth. “Abstract Expressionism - Art History 101 Basics”. About.com. Mid-1940s-Present” 2010. Web. 29 December 2011. < http://arthistory.about.com/ od/modernarthistory/a/abstract_expressionism_10one.htm> Getlein, Mark. Living with Art, 9th Edition. ebook. Web. “Jackson Pollock”. Wikipedia. 29 December 2011. Web. 29 December 2011. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock> Minkle, J.L. “Pollock or Not? Can Fractals Spot a Fake Masterpiece? Complex geometric patterns turn up in non-Pollock drip paintings”. Scientific American. 31 October 2007. Web. 29 December 2011. < http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can- fractals-spot-genuine> Pappas, Stephanie. “Different Colors Describe Happiness, Depression.” Adventures in Art Therapy Blog. 9 February 2010. Web. 29 December 2011. Pioch, Nicholas. “Pollock, Jackson: Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950” WebMuseum, Paris. Web. 29 December 2011. < http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/lavender-mist/> “Pollock, Jackson”. Astro-databank. 28 January 2003. Web. 29 December 2011. < http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Pollock,_Jackson> White, Anthony. “Jackson Pollock Before Blue Poles”. National Gallery of Australia. 2011. Web. 29 December 2011. < http://nga.gov.au/Pollock/index.cfm> Read More