In a drunken, suicidal state on a stormy March night, Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) laid down the foundations of his masterpiece Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952. He unrolled a large canvas across the floor of his windswept barn and, using a wooden stick, dripped the canvas with household paint from an old can.

This was not the first time the artist had dripped a painting onto canvas. In contrast to the broken lines painted by conventional brush contact, Pollock had developed a technique in which he poured a constant stream of paint onto horizontal canvases to produce uniquely continuous trajectories. This deceptively simple act polarized opinion in the art world. Was this primitive painting style driven by raw genius, or was he simply a drunk who mocked artistic traditions?

This article was originally published with the title Order in Pollock's Chaos.

2 Comments

1. 1. mountain19 03:27 PM 7/7/08

   once saw program of pbs which scientist found fractals in all living things. they called it the thumb print of god. might someone help me find this again? this thumb print was like a kaleidoscope which separated the colors, in the middle finding this same patern of black which is what they found in all things calling it the thumb print of god. i only find prints man made. not what i am looking for. this was magnified to show such fractal.
   please help me find?

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. Flow in reply to mountain19 03:32 AM 7/8/08

   Hello Mountain 19,
   
   Here a message from the Netherlands. Found on you tube what you are looking for. Thank you, it is wonderful!
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZA5ZOs_E8s#
   
   Kind regards, Ingrid

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this