Jackson Pollock adopted different styles of painting during his lifetime. In his earlier years, artists such as Thomas Hart Benton, whose painting style was entitled ‘American Realism’, and also Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera inspired his painting and style. However, Pollock was troubled by his inability to find his own signature style, and turned to the bottle to overcome his problems.

Not long afterwards though, in the mid 1940’s, Pollock began to develop what became known as ‘abstract expressionism’. This revolutionary style was utterly different from anything that had come before it. Pollock garnered both support and ridicule for many of his ‘drip’ paintings. It was often stated that any child, chimpanzee or dog could make a painting just as good as one of Pollock’s drip paintings. However, it is easy to determine the difference between a ‘Pollock’ drip painting and any

One of Pollock’s main claims to fame was the way in which his art did not merely imitate but investigated the detailed inner being of nature. When the artist Hans Hoffman came to see Pollock’s works he made the comment “You do not work from nature”, to which Pollock rather gruffly responded “I am Nature!” This quote perfectly portrays the man (and his art!), who categorically denied the label ‘abstract’ artist.

It is not denied that Pollock was a man who painted in the spirit of nature but there is debate about whether he was a landscape artist. Generally, when one thinks of a landscape, one thinks of rolling green valleys with lush trees and a beautiful country cottage in the background. However, this form of landscape only shows the skin of nature, like the skin of an apple it is a mere fraction of the total image. It is not until this theoretical ‘skin’ of nature is peeled away that you arrive at what Pollock describes as “the energy, the motion, and other forces”. Pollock portrays this ‘energy’ of a landscape through an immense array of colours, patterns, drips and movement on his works.

Some topics in this essay:
Mother Nature, Diego Rivera, Jackson Pollock, Sag Harbour, Hoffman Pollock’s, Fractal Images, Hart Benton, jackson pollock, William Wright, Realism’ Mexican, revolutionary style, onto canvas, pollock’s drip, painting style, effect pollock, mother nature, ‘autumn rhythm’,