The creative activity of Jackson Pollock raised much criticism and doubts concerning its significance in the world of art and the level of professionalism and artistic talent included in it even at the time of Pollock’s life. The reason for such prejudice can be seen in the unique, individual style of his paintings that he produced with the subconscious motives, pouring and dripping the paint chaotically on the canvas; but at the same time, the reasons for such antipathy towards him can be found much deeper, in the public perception of abstract impressionism on the whole, which Pollock represented throughout his life.
The matter for such misunderstanding and refusal to accept the artistic tendency by the critics is in the ideology of overall accessibility of art by people around the world and the easiness with which the works of art can be created. Pollock argues that every person in the world can paint his or her own works without any significant effort, as he did, and declared art as the tool for communicating the subconscious in reality so that it found its exit to the world. The style of Pollock, thoughtlessly moving around the canvas and pouring oil paint on the canvas so that the lines of his movements were fixed on it in the multi-dimensional, rich and deep form, giving the viewer the full understanding of emotions, personal feelings of the author, yielded him many followers and made the style popular – this technique can be seen in Convergence, one of the most famous works of Pollock created in color.
Looking at Convergence painted by the artist in 1952, it is hard to say whether Pollock really had a talent or simply publicized his life and gained his reputation and fame due to his scandal life (Jackson Pollock, 2009). But one thing is surely clear – Pollock and his contemporaries have managed to create a new trend, a new dimension of abstract impressionism, which is clearly a contribution to world art and an innovation in the sphere of perceiving art by fans and appreciators of artistic talents. Pollock dedicated his creative activity to prove the fact that he was no genius and had no talent, so he conducted that activity to find salvation for his soul, to find the refuge for his worries and personal drama. He was a personality with many paradoxes, much worry and change troubled his soul and he looked for solutions. It is no secret that there is a huge number of people who cannot find harmony with themselves in the fussy and problematic world concealing challenges at each step the human does. People have become the slaves inside their bodies and heads and have no refuge from the horror that often exists in the seemingly normal average citizen. There is a personal drama in everyone, but the thing is whether everyone has learned how to get rid of it, how to transform it into some constructive, beautiful thing that will relieve him or her and will bring joy and pleasure to others. Pollock managed to find that salvation, and the theory he propagated in his lifetime was that everyone could (Gurney, 2009).
His famous work Convergence is a living example of such sublimation of inner paradoxes, feelings, and emotions into a material work. Pollock’s main idea was that the painter has to subdue to the subconscious and only this way he would be able to follow the artistic path. Thus, Convergence proves this point – looking at the gentle lines mixed with energetic color splashes it is possible to see Pollock’s soul, contradictory, unstable, fierce, and sensitive at the same moment (Gurney, 2009). The individual and highly personal touch with which Pollock created each of his works taken alone already prove the significant place of his art in the world of painting – there are hardly many works of painters that were created with such passion and enthusiasm, opening so much sacred and passionate as Pollock did every time he came up to the clean canvas. So, it is possible to say that this painter together with his contemporaries opened a new era of public art which has become not a subject of admiration but a tool for self-realization that can be used by everyone, which is undoubtedly an artistic breakthrough of the 20th century.
References
Gurney, T. (2009). Convergence Jackson Pollock Painting. Web.
Jackson Pollock. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Web.