Jackson was definitely headed down the wrong trail. One of Jackson's good life influences was Thomas Hart Benton who not only gave him his first true guidance in painting, but also introduced him to popular literature on psychology and to literary friends with special interest in the mind and its workings. Shortly after starting to study under Benton, Pollack became a family friend by spending part of each summer at the Bentons" vacationing cottage on Martha's Vineyard. In his early works he was mostly dedicated to Regionalist work being heavily influenced by Mexican muralist painters Orozco, Rivera, and Sizueiros. Although he did experiment with abstraction of objects in line type paintings. Even with being trained under a realist in Benton, Jackson branched out to explore the expression of himself through his abstract paintings. In 1936 Pollock worked in a experimental workshop where he worked on floats and banners for the Communist demonstrations, but shortly his interest in politics diminished and the one for psychological arose. 1939 brought Jackson's his first psychological treatment from psychoanalyst Dr. Joseph Henderson. From 1938 to 1942 Pollock worked for the Federal Art Project, and by the mid-40's he was painting in a completely abstract manner. In 1944 Jackson met and married his Lee Krasner, also an abstract impressionist of great influence in the 20th century. In 1947 Pollock abruptly started working in what he was famous for, his "drip and splash" method. He continued painting throughout the early 50's, and in 1956 Time magazine named Jackson "Jack the Dripper". Later in 1956, Pollock would shock the world when he was in a fatal car wreck which added to his already legendary status as an artist, and was a demonstration of the harsh violent displayed in his paintings.
Jackson was most well known for his drip paintings, which were created in a very unheard of unusual way.