SplatSize : 8 x 11 in
Medium : Spray paint and acrylic on canvas Completion Date : September 2021 Splat represents a conscious that is tearing itself into contrasting dimensions. Emotions are spewing in both controlled and erratic movements, as the viewers eyes travels wildly between each panel. The piece derives from Jackson Pollock's abstract styled drip paints that portray emotions through movement and the thickness of the splatters of paint.
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Artist Inspiration
Jackson Pollock was a famous painter who was known for his abstract drip paintings. The artist was set in California, yet later moved to New York, which would later influence his art style. In the beginnings of his art career, Pollock painted realism but was soon impacted by Pablo Picasso's, Picasso: 40 Years of His Art, which depicted an expressive movement of modernism, specifically European. In the mid 1940's, he constructed his own painting style and movement within abstraction, drip paintings.
During this era, the abstract style was slowly becoming acceptable as the war culture was beginning. In the early 1940's WW2 was brewing and it caused the majority of the population to be expressive with their emotions. Most turned towards art, from visuals to poems. Pollock and a handful of artists were one of the first to present the abstract style as means to depict their emotions. This is especially seen within his loose paintings, the relaxed movements of drips to the sudden harsh flicks with a hardened brush presents contrasting emotions. The clash of colors presents the instability of feelings which progresses the culture of expressionism and its ability to unify humanity. His theme paints a perspective of personal statements through visual context, from high contrast of colors to the width of strokes. |
Planning
In order to start the project, I sketched differing concepts that had one common theme : emotions. This followed through each one whether it was the subject of matter or the background's varying strokes of paint. Originally, I looked for inspiration through a handful of artists and was able to rely upon three that would portray the main concept thoroughly. The medium I chose also inspired these artists to be the main focus, as spray paint and acrylic were the prime factors of choice. They would allow for a project where being messy and making mistakes is forgiving.
Once an idea of how the project would progress was conjured, I listed subjects such as a heart, face and panels. Each one had a correlation to emotions whether it was metaphorically or literally. Within those subjects core themes were present, for instance, the heart held longing and reflection. When these concepts are paired with a chaotic background it shifts the somber mood into one of a mental break and uncontrolled frustration. |
After conducting research upon the small list of artists, I was able to choose Jackson Pollock as the inspiration. His artwork held the unrestrained notion of emotional enrapture. With his style, the options to do strictly a background with its main focal point being the drips or a prominent subject was present. I played with the idea of doing a mans face and allowing the drips to be different colors for both the foreground and background. His hair and beard would be the most distinctive features as the face would be plain.
Another concept I sketched was a pattern panel that would have different designs, furthering the idea of chaos. Each square would be contrasted by colors and figures, with blocks and curved lines. Both sketches would instill the drip painting technique in either a concise or accommodating manner with the themes being parallel. |
Doing new sketches helped me realize that using panels is the best option as it allowed for more contrast within patterns and the messiness appeal. Creating diagonal sections would train the viewers eyes to look in different directions. Within them, I crosshatched the areas where the darker colors will reside. The lighter ones would remain blank with the occasional pattern, from stripes to a minimalist impression of a landscape. Listing the colors I would use helped to plan which colors would go where and its what I used in the last two pages of my planning. |
Experimentation and Process
Setting up the space in which I will spray paint upon consisted of wrapping paper on outdoor pavement. I was unsure whether I wanted to use all the spray paint colors I owned, especially with the black and white just yet. As a result, I used light warm colors for the top portion of the canvas. These coats were applied with no prior sketch or specific idea in mind. Instead I used the colors; pink, purple, peach, yellow and red. The contrast between the colors wasn't as conflicting had I used cool colors which allowed for an even blend. I sprayed the darker colors (purple and pink) along the edges and slowly intricated them towards the middle. Using the light colors (yellow and peach) to soften the harshness, I then used the white to separate the warm and cool colors. The cool resided on the bottom of the canvas and were teal and purple. Using the same technique as before, I used the darker color towards the edges and gently propelled it towards the middle. From there I used a spray paint that created a sand stone texture on a majority of the canvas. |
Once the base colors were plastered upon the canvas, I used a paper to spray both black and white lines going opposite ways diagonally. These sections allowed me to create panels and the first one was of the base colors, but brighter. I was also able to create a gradient effect by putting like colors next to each other which furthered a sense of blending. As the section was drying I added a black line towards the middle and used a paper to scrap the excess paint which created a texture. The next panel was towards the bottom right of the canvas which was overlapped with pink, purple and teal. The base was both teal and purple, as the pink was added towards the end. Before the paint could fully dry I ripped a small piece of paper and rolled it slightly in order to create a grass effect. Using sweeping motions upwards in either directions created the effect which was then enhanced by the yellow splatter at the end. |
Needing to create contrast between the dark colors, I decided to make the third panel all white. However, it was too plain so I added red stripes that were diagonal to further the brightness. As I continued, the color scheme had become too bare so a black strip between the reds in the middle seemed sufficient enough. Panels four and five held the same concept as they were sided by bright sections. Thus darker coloring was needed as I used black spray on the edges and the lighter ones towards the middle. The first section used yellow, pink and purple. Holding the black spray paint a good distance away from the portions I wanted colored created a smoky blend. The same technique was used for the fourth panel, except this time I used teal. That color was mostly towards the edges but made it seem darker than intended, so I splattered yellow paint in both the upper and lower areas. After all the panels were complete I went back and taped a surrounding area towards the bottom. The portion that was inside the tape was covered in black and white acrylic. This was done by adding a splash of water into the paint, mixing it and then flicking the brush towards the space. The brush didn't have the desired result so I cut a straw in half and dipped it into the paint mix, to then hang it over the canvas and direct the paint from that point. However, the paint was too thin and it seeped through onto the next panel atop the black line. Instead of fixing it, I left the patch in order to enhance the messiness effect inspired from Pollock. |
Reflection
Splatter was a project that I was both familiar and unbeknownst to. The concept of messy art that is forgiving in contrast to concise lines and strokes was difficult to grasp. Every time the spray paint went over its boarder or turned out more pigmented than I had intention to, I would follow through and "fix" it. However, this shattered the whole notion of the abstract culture. So if I were to ever recreate this piece in mind to its inspiration, I would mute the perfectionist objective and allow for uncontrolled movements without any hesitation.
Connecting the theme to Jackson Pollock's works introduced the concept of the conscious mind and its relationship to emotions. I wanted to pull inspiration from that for each panel and present them with differing ideas to enhance the split of a conscious. From dark areas with hardly any light to a grass like landscape and to a splattered drip area. These all are cohesive in the aspect of telling a theme of the unity of emotions, despite their large differences. However, the drip painting is mostly dull in this piece and if I were to recreate it I would make it a more distinctive piece of the art work. The idea would follow half, if not 2/3 of the canvas in order to fully connect with the theme of imperfection. With an added subject in mind, like a face morphing into the drips would be a nice concept to adventure upon in the future.
Connecting the theme to Jackson Pollock's works introduced the concept of the conscious mind and its relationship to emotions. I wanted to pull inspiration from that for each panel and present them with differing ideas to enhance the split of a conscious. From dark areas with hardly any light to a grass like landscape and to a splattered drip area. These all are cohesive in the aspect of telling a theme of the unity of emotions, despite their large differences. However, the drip painting is mostly dull in this piece and if I were to recreate it I would make it a more distinctive piece of the art work. The idea would follow half, if not 2/3 of the canvas in order to fully connect with the theme of imperfection. With an added subject in mind, like a face morphing into the drips would be a nice concept to adventure upon in the future.
Compare and Contrast
DifferencesSpace -
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SimilaritiesBalance -
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ACT Responses
1. Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
The artist that I took inspiration from using drop paint in order to create a final product of an artistic piece. His style was abstract and held a chaotic culture that affected my work. In this sense, it enabled Splat to be fully abstract with a quarter of a panel resembling the artist's style .
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Jackson Pollock is an advocate for expressing feelings that are difficult to capture with words. He creates artworks that convey the vast spectrum of emotions and is unfiltered in its presentation. His approach on a conscious that is filled to the brim of sentiments is supportive as he typically captures the human feelings in each of his pieces.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
People do not favor new art movements and it isn't until posthumous or after a group of people have adapted and continuously use the style, that they accept it. Society is intimidated by new things yet once they warm up to the concept, that movement can be the most acknowledged one in history, like Jackson Pollock's works and style.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea behind Jackson Pollock's works is expression and how emotions can lead the movements of an artist. My plan leading into the research was emotions and abstract styled techniques. This correlated to Pollock's style and from there I continued to research his artworks and l constructed the theme in a more refined aspect, into an unforgiving conscious over-spewing with emotions.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
An inference I was able to pull from my research was that expression has no basis. It's possible to promote one's feelings without a subject and still be able to be comprehensible.
The artist that I took inspiration from using drop paint in order to create a final product of an artistic piece. His style was abstract and held a chaotic culture that affected my work. In this sense, it enabled Splat to be fully abstract with a quarter of a panel resembling the artist's style .
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Jackson Pollock is an advocate for expressing feelings that are difficult to capture with words. He creates artworks that convey the vast spectrum of emotions and is unfiltered in its presentation. His approach on a conscious that is filled to the brim of sentiments is supportive as he typically captures the human feelings in each of his pieces.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
People do not favor new art movements and it isn't until posthumous or after a group of people have adapted and continuously use the style, that they accept it. Society is intimidated by new things yet once they warm up to the concept, that movement can be the most acknowledged one in history, like Jackson Pollock's works and style.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea behind Jackson Pollock's works is expression and how emotions can lead the movements of an artist. My plan leading into the research was emotions and abstract styled techniques. This correlated to Pollock's style and from there I continued to research his artworks and l constructed the theme in a more refined aspect, into an unforgiving conscious over-spewing with emotions.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
An inference I was able to pull from my research was that expression has no basis. It's possible to promote one's feelings without a subject and still be able to be comprehensible.
Bibliography
Fisher, K., 2010. Expressing the Age: How the Painting of Jackson Pollock Displayed the Political Culture of Abstract Expressionism. Philologia, 2(1). DOI: http://doi.org/10.21061/ph.v2i1.113
Jackson Pollock and his paintings. Jackson Pollock: 100 Famous Paintings Analysis and Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2021, from https://www.jackson-pollock.org/.
Jackson Pollock and his paintings. Jackson Pollock: 100 Famous Paintings Analysis and Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved September 29, 2021, from https://www.jackson-pollock.org/.