re: #316 mich-again

How about this one..

Sam Francis the artist, not to be confused with Sam Francis, the supremacist who was a hero to the far right. Too rich. The Obama’s have a painting called White Line from an artist called Sam Francis. Ha.

Abstract Expressionism. Probably the most well known AE painter is Jackson Pollock, “The Dripper” as he’s known. His work never made much sense to me until the following story was related. Pollock, like most artists, spent years attempting to develop a style that was uniquely his, at a time when Picasso’s work cast an enormous shadow over the entire art world. After working through a long series of paintings, again and again Pollock would step back and find that ultimately, they all derived from some earlier work that Picasso had already produced - but better. One day, in complete frustration, he threw his canvas on the floor and started flinging paint at it with his bare hands, shouting “Damn Picasso!!!” with each fistful. And Abstract Expressionism was born, with it’s attempt to capture the emotional state of the artist while the work itself was being produced.

I’m not a huge fan of AE myself, but at least now when I see it I find it a lot more approachable and understandable than I did before hearing this tale.