Pollock 2016

Pollock

Please scroll through the Pollock gallery to read my thoughts on the photographs.

I have long had this theory about Jackson Pollock and how he came upon the idea to do the drip paintings.  I was down visiting my in-laws in Virginia and one day I looked at a thicket of brush. It was a tangled mess of branches going this way and that all intertwined. If you flattened it out, it would look just like a Pollock painting.  My conclusion was that Pollock, would sit in his studio in East Hampton drinking beer, get drunk, have to pee.  Like any man he would just go to the nearest tree or brambles and pee.  There he saw the same thing, a tangled mess of lines caused by the bramble of branches.  It was then that he had his “aha” moment and thought, “I can paint that.” As a result the rest is history.

I decided to try and use this idea to make a photograph that resembled what I was thinking about. Therefore, shooting with an old digital camera I captured the brambles, converted the image into black and white.  Then added some layers of contrast with the primitive tools that were at my disposal. As a result I quickly achieved the effect I had hoped for, a two dimensional photograph that resembled the masterpieces in museums throughout the world.

Today with my more sophisticated editing and through lots of trial and error the photographs have taken on color. Because of this they have transitioned from replicating Pollock’s to taking on a life of their own. Favorites still include the ones with the chaotic and sometimes tortured bending of branches.

Pollock-Krasner House

If you are in East Hampton the Pollock-Krasner House is a great place to visit. There you can see the amazing floor where he painted the drip paintings he is most famous for.  Check it out here.

Purchases

You can purchase any of these images by clicking here.