Abstract expressionist art was a major

influence for New York School, where the

poets and painters of this school maintained
a friendship and a dialogue through their
work.
The most important painters of this group
were Jackson Pollock, Willem de Koonig, Franz
Kline and Clyfoord Still.
 They began what is called "action painting," which is a
technique that allows the subconscious to make the artistic
decisions. The artistic movement began because Surrealist
painters moved to New York City.

Abstract Expressionism refers to an American art movement

that emerged after World War II during the 1950s.
 Abstract Expressionist artists are recognized
by their unique modes of painting opposed to
traditional ways:
1. Expressionist art does not contain realistic
images of objects or figures, but shapes, lines
and colors are combined to form an image
 They wanted to create an art that can be
experienced, not just seen and the people to
react to their artwork without associating it
with a recognizable image.

In an expressionist artwork there is no focal

point, the attention of the viewers is directed
all over the canvas.
 The Abstract expresionism artwork is achieved
by action painting or the sense of
movement, for example: to drip or to pour
the paint around the canvas during the act of
paint.
 Abstract Expressionist artists expressed with
their technique, tools, and materials the ideas
and emotions that could not be described with
everyday images. These artists did not want their
expression to be confined by recognizable
imagery.

They were inspired by thoughts about life, death,

spirituality, power, struggle, and a range of human
emotions.
 Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 August 11, 1956), known professionally as Jackson
Pollock, was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement.
He was well known for his unique style of drip painting.
His method consisted of flinging and dripping thinned paint onto an unstretched canvas laid
on the floor of his studio. This direct, physical engagement with his materials welcomed
gravity, velocity, and improvisation into the artistic process, and allowed line and color to
stand alone, functioning entirely independently of form.
Jackson Pollock was not concerned with painting objects that we can see and
comprehend in our everyday life, such as landscapes, seascapes, or architecture.
Instead, his focus was twofold: first, he wanted to show action through how he
applied the paint to his canvases, and, secondly, to show his emotions and psyche
through the randomness that was on the canvas.
Pollock's early Surrealist works of personal symbols and abstract figures show the
influence of Jos Clemente Orozco,, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Joan Mir, and Max
Ernst
Mural, 1943

Going West, 1935

The Flame, 1938

Blue Poles, 1952 by Jackson Pollock
 Kit Messham-Muir (Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory, University
of Newcastle)suggest us three different questions to ask when were
trying to understand art:
Look: what is there in front of you?
See: what is there in front of us, unpacking the symbols we recognise that
is, the iconography.
Think: what creative interpretation do you give
 My point of view about painting
Look: a paint, thick black lines, serpent yellow
and orange lines
it was painted using thick and thin
brushes and the technique was a simple one
brushing

See: eight lines that look like: arrows, gun or a

rope with birds on it; a flock of birds, waves,
skeleton head, waterfall
 Think: When I look at this painting I see a
dense forest with many birds and very tall
trees, Im feeling choked as I am trapped in a
forest and I cant get out. The black birds that I
associated with the crows give me a sense of
fear. The lines look like some canibals who
want to catch me.
 About Blue poles
According to art historian Dennis Phillips the
title "limits our field of comprehension and
does the painting a singular disservice.
Because we look for the poles and miss much
of the rest, the name is simply too
distracting."
 Blue poles is a painting, but not a conventional easel painting, it was realised by
footprint technique
The a story behind Blue poles : according to Stanley Friedman, writing in New
York magazine in 1973, Pollocks friend Tony Smith had arrived at Pollocks studio
and found him severely depressed, so Smith started the painting to distract the
artist from his suicidal thoughts. Both Pollock and Smith got extremely drunk
during the painting session, and by the end of the evening they were smashing
glass on the canvas and treading it in with their bare feet. Thats where the
footprint comes from. You can see shards of broken glass on the canvas.
There is no standard interpretation of this artwork, the approache an it
may differ from a person to another.