Decoding Jackson Pollock

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By Phillip Torrone
Posted 2009/09/26 @ 10:19 am
Category General

Decoding Jackson Pollock @ Smithsonian Magazine via jk.

Did the Abstract Expressionist hide his name amid the swirls and torrents of a legendary 1943 mural? An art historian makes the case for a signature gesture… Pollock’s possibly writing his name in Mural testifies to an overlooked feature of his works: they have a structure, contrary to the popular notion that they could be done by any 5-year-old with a knack for splatters. In my view, Pollock organized the painting around his name according to a compositional system-vertical markings that serve as the loci of rhythmic spirals-borrowed directly from his mentor, Benton.

See if you can spot it!

BY Phillip Torrone

Editor at large - Make magazine. Creative director - Adafruit Industries, contributing editor - Popular Science. Previously: Founded - Hack-a-Day, how-to editor - Engadget, Director of product development - Fallon Worldwide, Technology Director - Braincraft.

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5 Responses to Decoding Jackson Pollock

Dave Lambers on September 26th, 2009 at 4:43 pm said:

and more legibly.

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Linus on September 27th, 2009 at 4:55 am said:

Oh, for crying outloud. How is this different from crackpots searching for hidden patterns and prophecies in Shakespeare or the bible? If you look hard enough, you’re gonna find both “Picasso”, “Leonardo” and “sausages” in that picture.

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Anonymous on September 27th, 2009 at 6:45 pm said:

I was able to find my name in it in shapes that were just as convincing…

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Andy L on September 28th, 2009 at 4:10 am said:

This is like obsessing over the “Face on Mars”.

Both the planet Mars and Pollock’s paintings are cool enough as is.

We don’t need to cheapen them by creating elaborate conspiracy theories.

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Groxx on October 19th, 2009 at 11:53 am said:

Do the choices for what squiggle (or non-squiggle) is a letter seem SOMEWHAT arbitrary to anyone else? I’ve rarely ever seen a less-convincing argument…

/me starts looking for “sausages”
Yup. And some of them are MUCH clearer than his “name”.
I’m not saying he didn’t put his name in it. Just that the “example” is one of the worst I’ve seen.

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