For my first art history assignment, where we focus on critical analysis, I chose to analyze a painting from Jackson Pollock; mostly because I chose to write about Abstract Expressionism, and when I was looking through the movement his name was the only one I recognized.
Boy, do I regret that decision. How the hell are you supposed to analyze squiggles?
It's not that I don't appreciate what he did; just because it doesn't move me doesn't mean that it's worthless, or that it's not art, but come on. Unless you really dig for context, it's hard to just figure out of the top of your head what the meaning behind his paintings is.
Once I had narrowed down the artist I wanted to focus on, I had to pick a painting. I chose one called Number 30, otherwise known as Autumn Rhythm; mostly because I was drawn to the colours and title.
Initial Reaction:
My first impression of this work was that I was going to have a hell of a time writing this blog post, given how Jackson Pollock chooses to create. Just looking at the painting, not analyzing, I can say that I both enjoy and dislike the painting on an aesthetic level. I love the colours he used, and I think that they came together a really nice way. However, my eyes can also have a bit of a hard time processing the chaos of the drips and they tend to go blurry and unfocused after a while. The painting doesn't really bring much to mind, except that I'm kind of confused as to what it all means (which I get is the point of this whole thing but still, Pollock couldn't have made it a little more easy for me?). I understand this can maybe move some people and invoke emotion in them, and while I'm not going to say that they don't have a right to feel that way, I just didn't get the same experience as they did. I didn't feel anything except puzzlement and aesthetic appreciation.
Analysis:
Analyzing a painting like this is incredibly difficult, I would go so far as to say that analyzing a Pollock work specifically is incredibly difficult when just looking at the painting alone. So for this analysis, I'm going to pull more from the author and what he said about his art, more than I do the actual painting. Pollock sometimes used his paintings to show entrapment of a mind within its body, the chaos of consciousness stuck within the confines of the canvas (which is fitting for someone who struggled with alcoholism, and, some scholars hypothesise, bipolar disorder), and others times he seemed to be trying to portray the chaos and force of life or nature itself; which, for a painting called Autumn Rhythm, I believe in this case to be the more likely of the two.
Interpretation:
Like I said earlier in my analysis, I think that with his painting, Pollock was trying to comment, or maybe display, what can sometimes be the complete disorder of nature. Instead of seeing nature as calm and tranquil, Pollock saw the world as something chaotic and disorganized but still considered it beautiful, not in spite or its disorder but because of it. I think the way Pollock decided to create this painting also says a lot about what he was trying to convey; he started the painting with a linear framework of black lines, and slowly built his way towards other colours and drips. It's a perfect mixture between control and chance, something that Pollock seemed to appreciate, especially within a painting like this.
Consideration of Cultural Context:
When it comes to art, context is everything; without it, art can be meaningless, just something pretty or weird to look at. Context is incredibly important, however, when it comes to Pollock's work because of its the only real way we can infer anything about his paintings and their meaning. Pollock grew up in the American West, in an unsettled and tough environment, which shaped his character and personality greatly. As a child, Pollock moved around a bit and was later expelled from two different high schools. It's safe to say that his early life was surrounded by chaos and constant change. He was an alcoholic and sought treatment for his addiction by visiting a Jungian psychologist, who later told him to paint his feelings. I think that Pollock's unsettled early life has shaped a lot of his worldview and that it can definitely be seen through his fondness for upheaval within his work.
Expression of Aesthetic Judgement:
I've said it once, I'll say it a million times: I really don't like making judgements on whether something is art or not. I shouldn't get to decide if a piece has value just based on whether or not it moved me specifically. Because I'm not a monolith for the entire human race. I can't say definitively that this will never affect or move another person. But seeing as this is an assignment that should have been done a month ago, we don't really have time to get into the philosophical question of what is and isn't art; so I'll just say that while this might work for some people, it doesn't for me. I look at Pollock's work and I just see squiggles, drops of paint on a canvas, which, in the long run, mean nothing to me. I don't like how much I had to dig into Pollock's past to even partially understand what he was trying to do. I think that a painting should be able to stand on its own, at least a little bit, and shouldn't rely so heavily on someone knowing the context of the artist's life or what he was trying to do; and so for that reason, I saw that no, this painting is not successful.
Once I had narrowed down the artist I wanted to focus on, I had to pick a painting. I chose one called Number 30, otherwise known as Autumn Rhythm; mostly because I was drawn to the colours and title.
Initial Reaction:
My first impression of this work was that I was going to have a hell of a time writing this blog post, given how Jackson Pollock chooses to create. Just looking at the painting, not analyzing, I can say that I both enjoy and dislike the painting on an aesthetic level. I love the colours he used, and I think that they came together a really nice way. However, my eyes can also have a bit of a hard time processing the chaos of the drips and they tend to go blurry and unfocused after a while. The painting doesn't really bring much to mind, except that I'm kind of confused as to what it all means (which I get is the point of this whole thing but still, Pollock couldn't have made it a little more easy for me?). I understand this can maybe move some people and invoke emotion in them, and while I'm not going to say that they don't have a right to feel that way, I just didn't get the same experience as they did. I didn't feel anything except puzzlement and aesthetic appreciation.
Analysis:
Analyzing a painting like this is incredibly difficult, I would go so far as to say that analyzing a Pollock work specifically is incredibly difficult when just looking at the painting alone. So for this analysis, I'm going to pull more from the author and what he said about his art, more than I do the actual painting. Pollock sometimes used his paintings to show entrapment of a mind within its body, the chaos of consciousness stuck within the confines of the canvas (which is fitting for someone who struggled with alcoholism, and, some scholars hypothesise, bipolar disorder), and others times he seemed to be trying to portray the chaos and force of life or nature itself; which, for a painting called Autumn Rhythm, I believe in this case to be the more likely of the two.
Interpretation:
Like I said earlier in my analysis, I think that with his painting, Pollock was trying to comment, or maybe display, what can sometimes be the complete disorder of nature. Instead of seeing nature as calm and tranquil, Pollock saw the world as something chaotic and disorganized but still considered it beautiful, not in spite or its disorder but because of it. I think the way Pollock decided to create this painting also says a lot about what he was trying to convey; he started the painting with a linear framework of black lines, and slowly built his way towards other colours and drips. It's a perfect mixture between control and chance, something that Pollock seemed to appreciate, especially within a painting like this.
Consideration of Cultural Context:
When it comes to art, context is everything; without it, art can be meaningless, just something pretty or weird to look at. Context is incredibly important, however, when it comes to Pollock's work because of its the only real way we can infer anything about his paintings and their meaning. Pollock grew up in the American West, in an unsettled and tough environment, which shaped his character and personality greatly. As a child, Pollock moved around a bit and was later expelled from two different high schools. It's safe to say that his early life was surrounded by chaos and constant change. He was an alcoholic and sought treatment for his addiction by visiting a Jungian psychologist, who later told him to paint his feelings. I think that Pollock's unsettled early life has shaped a lot of his worldview and that it can definitely be seen through his fondness for upheaval within his work.
Expression of Aesthetic Judgement:
I've said it once, I'll say it a million times: I really don't like making judgements on whether something is art or not. I shouldn't get to decide if a piece has value just based on whether or not it moved me specifically. Because I'm not a monolith for the entire human race. I can't say definitively that this will never affect or move another person. But seeing as this is an assignment that should have been done a month ago, we don't really have time to get into the philosophical question of what is and isn't art; so I'll just say that while this might work for some people, it doesn't for me. I look at Pollock's work and I just see squiggles, drops of paint on a canvas, which, in the long run, mean nothing to me. I don't like how much I had to dig into Pollock's past to even partially understand what he was trying to do. I think that a painting should be able to stand on its own, at least a little bit, and shouldn't rely so heavily on someone knowing the context of the artist's life or what he was trying to do; and so for that reason, I saw that no, this painting is not successful.
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