JACKSON POLLOCK: ONE, NUMBER 31,discussion
Introduction to Art & Music Paper,
Created April 1998, for "ACE 04"MT
Prof. B. Percival, Queens College, Flushing, NY

Forgive me if this seems uniformed; I believe discussion from everyone, even the casual observer is meaningful too; at least I hope so; also note: I was thirty-two when I wrote this paper!!!!) I have no MFA or formal arts education

Please send sase if you wish a copy of the "attachments" mentioned.

"The purpose of this report is to discuss at length the intricacies of One, Number 31, by Jackson Pollock; we will take a peek athe the artist's life, and postulate about what went on in his head while painting or what drove him and inspired him. We will focus on one piece, One Number 31, stated above.

The piece is an abstract expression with surreal quality to it. If you look long enough, like I did, you will begin to see figurines in the painting; these figurines happened or came about, spontaneously and quite unconsciously, developed in "action painting." (The Web Musem).

I have b een moved by Number 31. It's powerful, unconscious, free...uninhibited. I've spent a lot of time in front of it, just staring. I was struck by the movement about in the piece. I followed the movement of line around and around; I was wondering how long it took to finish such an enormous project, and what went through
the artist's mind. Were, what I would later learn were "rythms", premeditated at all, and what kind of mood was the artist in when he painted the piece? Somehow I thought that abstractions should be limited to medium-size canvas that they were like aliens in a foreign country. I thought that you had to be reprsentational to use up so much space!

Form, we know, is best defined as: "The physical appearance of a work. It's materials, style and composition. (Any identifiable shape or mass as a geometric form.") (Gilbert, 545). First, approach the piece and stand dead center at eight to ten feet, or sit on the left bench, like I did. Going by the above definition, we approach the painting, One, Number 31, Oil and Enamel paint on unprimed canvas sized at 8' x 10" x 17'5 5/8," (as seen at the "MOMA", Museum of Modern Art, thanks to Sidney and Harriet Jans collection Fund, by exchange). The painting can be discussed for it's confusion and commotion, (alone), but I call the use of line it's "swirling masses."

The painting, strange as it may seem at first glance is balanced, perfectly, I might add. There is consistency in the use of colors throughout; all the oclors involved are used all over the painting; with the exception of olive green, which is mainly used in the upper left hand portion of the painting to be discussed later herein.

The only subject I can surmise is the condition of chaos. This painting even borders on violence. After I wrote that, I found a quote from Elaine De Koonig, apparently agreed with me, and expressed herself much better that I. She said, "Jackson Pollock's new abstractions, violent (emphasis added), in drawing and in application, hue, complex, luminous networks...give an impression of being frozen in position. His flying lines are spattered on in intense, unmixed colors to create wiry, sculptural construction, which stand immobile and apart, univolved with the backgrounds. (Friendman 129).

The composition is an abstract expression, but more interestingly, it has surreal-expressions within it. Surrealism is defined in two ways: One, "...dedicated to expressing the imagination as revealed in dreams, free of concious control of reason and convention. (Encyclopedia.com); two, "...emphasizing imagery from dreams and fantasies as well as an intuitive spontaneous method recording such imagery." (Gilbert, 54).

We know that who the artist is, is just as important as what the piece is, what is says, what it doesn't (suggest). This I believe is the best place for the artist's "BIO", because we now need to open the door to the artist's life, we need to explore the goings in and the comings out, because these are often reflected or injected into an artist's work. My impression was that somehow Jackson Pollock was always searching for somehting...reaching for the out limits of existence.

Jackson (Paul) Pollock was born on a sheep ranch in 1912 in Cody, Wyoming, the youngest of five boys. (Gilbert 35). We know that he got his education at Riverside HS, where he met Reuben Kadish, whom he had intermittent contact with for the rest of his life. Later, he moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in the Manual Arts HS. There he met two artists: Philip Guston and Manuel Tolegian, whom he also contined to have contact with for the rest of his life also. He has a long relationship with one of his art teachers, named Frederick Schwanowsky, who introduced him to Far Eastern religions. These seem to have influenced his artwork. (Friedman 9, 10). I also read that Pollock had come from a Presbyterian background. Conversely, Schwanowsky was mainly involved in Buddhism and the contemporary teachings of Krishnamurti, who gave "campfire addresses."

In a message from "The Search," he said, "I have painted my picture on the canvas, and I want you to examine it critically, not blindly. I want you to create because
of that picture a new picture of yourself. I want you to fall in love with the picture, not with the painter, to fall in love with The Truth and not with him who brings The Truth. Fall in love with yourself and then you will fall in love with everyone." (Friendman, 9, 10).

Pollock began drinking, and developed alcoholism at age fifteen; he would suffer from this condition for the rest of his life. (Gilbert, 35). "......there were few people who were even able to talk about his art." (Gilbert 35). In his biography, The Third Revised Edition, 1968, Benton speaks about Pollock's complex personality. He says that "Jack" was a frequent and long staying visitor at the Benton's place in Martha's Vineyard, but never spoke nor rarely drank at these gatherings. Conversely, at parties in New York he was like a different person......." (Friedman, 26, 27). "Lee's doctor suggested tranquilizers for Pollock who took them irregularly as needed. It is reflected in One Number 31 and Lavender Mist. Ironically these paintings are less violently lyrical....relaxed...calm....even sublime. (IFriedman, 127).

He began to study painting in 1929 at The Arts Student's League in New York City, under the regionalist painter, Thomas Hart Benton. (Web Musem). He was influenced by certian aspects of surrealsim. His earlier paintings are in realistic style, I.E., "She Wolf". In 1947 he emerged wiht a completely abstract style "Drip and Splash," (after working for The Federal Art Project for a period of five years, ('38-42).

During the 1950's Pollock continued to produce works that were both figurative and quasi-figurative, black and white with rich impasto. Some more progressive critics strongly supported him, but others weren't as kind. He was once called, "Jack The Dripper," by a 1956 Time Magazine article (Internet), "...the popular audience expected it's art to be as illustrative, topical and immediate as the day's big-city newsppaer photograph. Many of the American artists who satisfied these requirements were excellenrt draftsmen, and even powerful painter, but, obviously, within this context, not one was an originator or esthetic revolutionary; not one changed the history of art as had the Impressionists' Post Impressionists', Faves, and Cubists'." (Friendman, 17).

In the book, The Modern Master's Series, "Jackson Pollock, Vol.3, Pollock was asked, "Mr. Pollock, the classical artist has a world to exporess and they did so by representing the objects in that world. Why doesn't the modern artist do the same thing?" He responded, "The modern artist it seems to me, is working at expressing an inner world--in other words--expressing the energy, the motion, and other innner forces." Later, in a response to another question he replied, (something to the effect, ) that exact images are now readily available with a the camera, and inferred that artist's have now moved on to recording new venues and images; he (even) records images from his head!

My first impression was that this painting encompasses the contact between the conscious thought as seen in representational work, and the unconscious - the abstract expressionism and the surrealist.

Think of yourself as being suddenly catapulted into the alcoholic stage of the artist. (There is a great deal of emotive power in Number 31, and I indicated earlier). There are two things however, that are of particular interst to me. Namely, colors/combinations of colors, and the objects that can be seen by looking long and hard at the piece. I believe this is his own depiction of his unconscious mind (at work on the canvas), or it could just be an evening in the forest without his glasses on...(that is not speaking about alcholoism, only imagination).

Today, at 40, I think perhaps these images are things that meant something to me, or perhaps something he and I had in common. Maybe I projected these images onto his painting, but for discourses' sake, lets continue...with all due respect to Mr. Pollock, his great talent and legacy).

As discussed above, Jackson Pollock's consciousness (emanated symbolism) onto the canvas; these images themselves can be totally sujective in nature. However, choices of color are generally more directly implicit of something that could be going on with the artist themselves. Most of us make general associations with certain colors. For instance red reminds of of love, passion and even St. Valentine's Day; similarly, we associate green with fruitfulness, spring, money and St. Patrick's Day.

In the background we have beige and brown, (which I now, in 2006 believe), represented the basics and the vicissitudes of life. Forward from beige and brown, we find forest green, symbolizing fertility, growth and perhpas, fulfillment.

Further forward of green are grey and black in the foreground. these present obscurity, remorse and even seduction or uncertainty; all of these are elements of life's own experiences. Consider for a moment the horror, grief and uncertainty of living your youth in "The Great Depression Era." Note the constancy of the circling paint in black, notably in the forefront, suggesting death, even fear of the unknown, or the appeal of sex, perhaps...& C.

I'd like to discuss cream beige lastly, because it is in the foreground and is quite possibly the most significant of all. Cream beige in the foreground signifies a tainted view of reality through a bottle; (I know quite a few alcoholics, and hope never to become one myself); the swiming about within it that releases a fierce creative energy. Lots of things can be said, not with great certainty, but it is fun to explore the possibilities (of what fueled his creativity).

The following are the images that give the painting a surreal-quality, (in my opinion only), probably unique to this viewer, as I've said. Starting in the lower right hand corner you might see the small face of a baby raccoon in black, white and grey, (see attachment #1); next, move three feet left and you will see a rabbit in cream beige; the ears in and of themselves in particular, are two (very) "painterly" lines upwards, (see attachment #2). Four feet above the rabbit, in black (in outline only(you might see a fist, including shirtsleeve and elbow too. (I haven't seen the painting since, and this sounds a little strange to me now, but humor me, look...OK?) (See attachment #3). Next, direct your eyes to dead center in the composition and you might see a mushroom of all things! The top of it is outlined in cream beige, like a parabola. From left to right, the bottom of the head of the mushroom is all black: until you reach a big splotch of black; then you have the right portion which is a very squigglly dissipating line of cream beige. Next you might see the stem, or base of the mushroom, which is a composite shaped mainly by cream beige and black, (see atttachment #4); next object, attachment # 6: (I do remember this one, unlike the rest), you might see an outline of a pregnant woman extending about six to seven feet upward from the base of the painting; below the woman you might see, separated from the woman, I note, a person leaning into the composition, a figure, (attachment #7) who seems to be reaching for something. Last of all, and very cute indeed is a bear cub superimposed on the person "leaning in."

You may have guessed that I thoroughly enjoyed One, Number 31, each time I've seen it. When you go to the musem see my attachments, (this was my note within the essay), which tell you more precisely where these objects, mentioned above are. One, Number 31 is in room 22, or it was, back in April of '98; it was not too far from Debuffit's "Childbirth" shown in our textbook (for this introductory course in Art).

(Remember reader: These are uneducated opinions which are meant to get people to go take another look, or to look for the first time at a great work, One Number 31, by Jackson Pollock).

I think I have sufficiently explained the intricacies of the painting, and hope you enjoy it as much as I do. You might be interested to know that in an interview in The New Yorker, "Talk of the Town," Pollock and wife, Lee Krasner, attempted to explain why he gave his paintings numbered titles. Lee said, "Numbers are neutral. They make people look at the picture for what it is - pure painting;" Pollock himself added, "I decided to stop adding to the confusion...abstract painting is abstract it confronts you." (Friedman, 75).

Many thanks Prof. Percival, if it is Dr. Percival, I appologize for the indiscretion.

To the Pollock family: I emphasize that I wanted to draw attention to the work, as he did, and not to his simple human condition, flawed, like the rest of us; unfortunately flawed in the public eye. God bless you Mr. Pollock.
IF I FIND THE IMAGE I WILL POST IT HERE TOO; IF I CAN FIGURE OUT HOW!

PS: Whoever you are, if you do go to see it: look for moods, feelings and images!