Saturday, March 31, 2018

artistic expression

  I posted an image of a Jackson Pollock drip painting yesterday and was surprised by the conversation it generated. You see, Jackson Pollock lived in my hometown and is much admired in the art world. I can't say I ever met the man but heard lots of stories about him. They tell me his house/studio is a museum these days. LOl, I guess so, no different than any other famous persons house I suppose. The big attraction I am told is the paint splattered on the floor.
 My comment was, explain how this is art ? I did have one person say you have to have an open mind, to which I responded , or an empty head. I make no excuses for that, I can't see where dripping paint on a canvas in big swirls and crooked lines represents a thing other than dripping paint ! I chuckle at the notion that I need to have some form of advanced intelligence to understand it. The Emperor was pretty smart with his clothes too. I just feel like if you have to explain what it is, you didn't do a very good job. Remember when your kids brought home those drawings to put on the refrigerator door ? I always saw exactly what they were, right after you told me. I believe it is the same thing with these Jackson Pollock paintings and others in that category.
 My Dad told a story about this Pollock guy. Dad was working with John Collins plumbing at the time. He was my Uncle John, nicknamed Grandpa Jelly Beans.  He had married my Mom's sister. Anyway, they were at Jackson Pollock's place doing some plumbing repairs. Dad said he went into the studio to ask the man a question. He stood there for a minute and watched as Jackson Pollock put a brush in a can of paint and began just slinging it around. He was laughing and talking to himself unintelligibly. Dad interrupted him and when he looked Dad knew immediately the man was drunk ! He staggered around a little bit laughing and said to Dad, here's another 100,000 ! Dad got his answer and left the room. Dad loved to tell that story as he thought it was the funniest thing ever. He would always say, damn fools spending there money on that  and the man didn't even know what room he was in. No, Dad wasn't very complimentary to great Jackson Pollock.
 I got thinking about that yesterday and putting a time line together. I just can't remember when all this took place. But Pollock died in 1956 when I was just three. It could be that Dad had him confused with De Kooning who also lived in East Hampton. That Pollock drank heavily was well known, I'm not sure about De Kooning. Well, whatever the case was I had a bedroom floor possibly inspired by one of those guys ! Yes, it's true. When I was young Dad added an upstairs to our home. The " boys' bedroom " which ran the full width of the house was up there. The floor was made of tongue and groove pine. A very common material in those days, cheaper I expect than sheets of plywood. The floor was first painted grey with some deck paint that Dad got at the boatyard. It was a true Navy grey and very durable paint. To add a little color and spark to the room Dad had a plan. He gave each of us kids a small can of paint. Yellow, red, blue and green is what I remember. We each had a stick and dripped it into the can and swirled that paint around to our hearts content. We had a great time as you can imagine. Kids with paint and permission to just drip it all over the floor. That floor was that way in 1971 when I left. Was it inspired by Dad seeing Pollock do the same ? I'd say it was a good possibility. The real shame is that Dad didn't invite Pollock over to help ! How much would that floor be worth today ?
 I posted that picture yesterday because I was thinking about that. How do these people gain fame and fortune from doing strange things. I wonder how they convince other people that this stuff is so great and important. With Pollock the story is that he was very unhappy that people didn't like his regular paintings and portraits. Then started giving them this drip painting stuff, a new breakthrough in artistic expression ! The rich folks thought it was wonderful and spent millions on it. Oh, I have a Pollock ! I'm thinking that is the only reason they buy those crazy things, to impress others. I gotta tell ya, I'm not impressed. Warhol painted a soup can and they bought that too ! I'm still laughing about that one.
 I make no apologies for any of this. If I want a piece of art I want to know exactly what it is just by looking at it. What's important to me is that you will also know, immediately, what it is. I'm not going to have to explain it to you or just say " it's a Pollock " so you can pretend you think it is magnificent too. You will never convince me that I couldn't sling some paint around on a canvas, give it a name and call it art. I'm also convinced if I got Pollock or De Kooning to sign it it would be worth a fortune and no one the wiser. That's my feeling anyway. Yours may differ. I've just never been one to have folks tell me what to like or dislike. One of my favorite pictures is a print I bought at a yard sale. Cost me two dollars with the frame. Better than any drip painting Pollock or De Kooning ever did.
 The bottom line for me is this; just because it cost a lot of money that doesn't make it good. I don't like chamber music either but at least it is music.
      

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