Jackson Pollock's painting meanings

Question

For my A2 Art coursework i am using Pollock as one of my artist links. My chosen theme for my coursework is "Zeitgeist"/"Social commentary"/urban decay etc.

I was wondering what the meaning is behind mr Pollocks most famous action paintings and weather his work has social/political undertones...

Thanks

Answer 1

Pollock besides doing paintings that we all love was also an alcoholic and so I don't think he spent much time on politics.  He drank , and painted.  The zeitgeist of the time was the cold war and the commies were anti modernism.  So the MOMA committed themselves to the art of the 50 's etc.  The WPA the make work program, from Roosevelt, did lend itself  to artists and helped create a work environment for them to bond and share ideas.  Pollock said

"Modern Art is nothing more than the expression of contemporary aims of the age that we are living in:  the modern painter cannot express this age, the airplane, the atom bomb in the old form of the Renaissance or of any other past culture.  Each age finds its own technique.  "

Some say he and others  eg Rothko were subsidized by the CIA  and produced works that are to counter the Soviet Realism, could be.  

For some reason when you look at his studio photos of him doing his huge drip paintings and dense almost nature -looking layers of flung paint, it seems like any of his thoughts on politics waned and he focused on the action of the arm flinging paint on canvas.  Basta.

Answer 2

No, the man was a drip!

Answer 3

i think he did what he did to mock the artsnobs,

like what i do...i have no particular meaning most of the time, i'm just putting together an image i like because i like it.

i think mr.pollock was doing something he loved and found a great deal of peace and contentment in, and it was very attractive, and then it became iconic...

i can run down a line of unmitigated c**p about anyone of my art works but the truth be known i did it because it suited me. no hidden agenda at all.

Answer 4

His action pictures more or less themed everything from conception to death amidst a sprawl of urban decay which is stationary decay is decay it neither flourishes nor expires it is just so!  The way he used the end of his brush to slash/gouge out key elements of the work depict this.  

Answer 5

thats the beauty of Art,

You can throw a can of paint into a jet blast and the resultant painting suddently has "meaning".

Personally i think the meaning behind his paintings were "lets see which sucker buys this one".