Using gravity and motion as his tools, Jackson Pollock, also known as 'Jack the Dripper', created a new form of dynamic, expressive and original art. He worked on large canvases laid on the floor of his studio, pouring and dripping household and enamel paint with brushes and cans. His art was like a dance, a performance, a capture of kinetic energy and action. Pollock was a key figure of American abstract expressionism, a revolutionary and influential movement of the 20th Century that rejected representation and illusion in favour of exploring the physical qualities of paint intuitively and spontaneously. The abstract expressionists did not want to confine paint to realism or a fixed compositional structure.
Landscape painters, contemporary
The Fenlands of Cambridgeshire are a land of water and earth, where rivers and dykes carve and shape the landscape. There is no pretence or artifice here, only the reality of nature and human ingenuity. Wicken Fen, at the heart of this region, is a place of wonder and mystery, where the water flows gently among the towering reeds and bull rushes. The Fenlands, once covered by the sea, are a testament to human creativity and resilience, shaped and transformed by generations. This painting reveals the delicate and enchanting beauty of this ephemeral world, as it awaits the inevitable return of the sea.
My paintings are often the result of a checkered journey, sometimes their creation spans months or even years. I don't follow a fixed blueprint or plan but rather embrace the surprises and changes that happen along the way. This is what makes painting so exciting and challenging for me. The technique of pouring and dripping paint that I use in this work is a great example of this adventurous attitude. I can't control everything, but I can enjoy the dynamism and spontaneity of painting. Many contemporary painters use layers to create depth and texture, and we depend to some extent on luck to help us discover new possibilities and effects. But you also need to know how and when to intervene with care and judgment, because random events alone are not enough to make a good painting.
I have created a dynamic rhythm in this piece by using repeated vertical strokes of gold enamel paint. The background is a textured layer of cold wax that has been stamped with aluminium foil and incised with knives. I have used diluted bitumen to create depth and contrast in the shapes of the reeds and bullrushes. I have also used different types of gold enamel paints with the addition of 'gold foil' highlights to make a gradation of light and shade. The richness of the undergrowth is the result of multiple drawn, painted and stamped marks, trails and layers.
