Art Musings...

1994, LEAP
42 x 36, Acrylic/Canvas

A weird morning path...

First, I hear of the new deKooning book "An American Master"... since I have a couple of other deK bios in my library I was interested to see how it compared so went to Amazon to check it out. There were a number of 5 star reviews, but my eye landed on a 3 star by Knox Martin, a lesser known peer of deK. who had a few words of his own to add to the story. I didn't even realize there was anyone still alive from that era.

Then, skimming through my NYTimes newsletter, I find this article which deals with the recent 'discovery' that some of Pollocks stuff might be fake and does it matter (as it applies to Shakespere as well.)

Somehow this all tied together in my mind... a comment by
Knox Martin:
"At the Betty Parsons Gallery Pollock's giant paintings shed particles, paint and dreck and were swept up off the floor in the mornings where elements shaled off. The point was that they were not made to sell! An explication we won't go into here."

Followed by an excerpt from the NYTimes article:
"Meanwhile, Jackson Pollock may be chuckling in his grave: if the object of Abstract Expressionist work is to embody the rebellious, the anarchic, the highly idiosyncratic — if we embrace Pollock's work for its anti-figurative aesthetic — may faux-Pollock not be quintessential Pollock? May not a Pollock forgery that passes for authentic be the best Pollock of all?"

So... back to the studio and the concern about whether or not my colors are decorator approved. Such is art in today's world... what will they say about us?

Wondering what my most 'deKooning-like" painting might be, perhaps the 1994, "Leap"... with a bit of Pollock and Rothko mixed in. This painting is currently rolled and stored, along with it's mate, "Pentimento". Maybe it's time they were restretched. I could use some of that energy in current work.