Alexis Wilson
Art-2-39142
Abstract expressionism, also known as action painting, is an era that originated in about
the mid twentieth century America. It started in New York City, where Jackson Pollock was one
of the first to invent Abstract Expressionism, from his studio in the countryside. He is known as
the most important and influential artist of the 20th century American movements in art. He
connected his inner conscience with his artwork, and it was not on accident. He involved true
feelings and needed them to work in order for his work to come out right. If his feelings and mind
were off, so were his paintings. He is admired for his spontaneity and the creation of mixing
different colors on a large canvas. The quality of his mediums varied, including house paint, and
he used different techniques throughout the years.
Introducing abstract expressionism as mostly paint or oils used on a canvas, where the
painter mixes emotions and throws the medium along the canvas with movements, creating
emotion based on the feelings. This is where the action in the title comes in. Sahar Hajali breaks
abstract expressionism down further stating:
This kind of painting is called action painting because the painter tries various
means of action by working from different angles throws the paint to the canvas
along with the movement, creates canvases. Therefore painter expresses more
emotional character without any representation of the world. Painter may focus
edges of the canvas or middle of it depending of his/her will. Sharp images and
intense details form a uniform background. Indistinguishable parts of the painting
as well as an intense and psychological violence increase its overall effect on the
viewer. (Hajali, 312)
A video on Jackson Pollock’s work and him in action, demonstrating the previous explanation of
abstract expressionism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Uj_HAAvbk (NCGSArt).
One of Pollock’s first abstract paintings,
Composition with Pouring II (left), 1943, is a medium
of paint cans. This is where he took the cans and poured
the paint directly from the cans to the canvas, no
brushes used. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture
Garden authors state, “In fact, Pollock executed much
of this work in a traditional manner, by brushing swirls
of yellow, blue, red, green, and gray artists’ tube paints
onto a pre-primed canvas that was already mounted to a stretcher” (Jackson Pollock). Pollock also
