Lecture 12/3 Painting 1950s - 1980s

• Abstract Expressionism
• Jackson Pollock - "Jack the Dripper"
• "To the art world as the B-12 is to the military"
• Weirder, more expensive, a symbol of American art
• Did not paint on walls (tradition), but rather on massive canvasses on the floor
• Personality became part of what he did, was known for being outrageous & excessive
• Marks that "just happen" rather than planned and thought out
• European versions a little more restrained, but still abstract
• Joan Mitchell
• "Second Generation" Abstract Expressionist
• ~10 years younger than "first generation" painters
• Refused to be called an "Action Painter" (like Pollock)
• Much public hype
• Cy Twombly
• Treated his canvas like an actual wall
• Small scribbles, thumbprints, etc
• Some larger gestures, "turning drawing into painting"
• Bryce Martin
• Minimal paintings
• Later began larger Cy Twombly-style style gesture paintings
• Exploited post-modern art styles to do whatever he liked
• Part of his career minimalist, another part gesture drawings, etc
• Color Field Painting - not marks, but rather areas of color
• Paintings that were not as much about gestures
• "The Painted Word"
• Made fun of fierce competition between artists in Manhattan
• Hard-edge Painting
• Not gestural, very careful and measured
• Structured stripes, not messy at all
• Frank Stella
• Ellesworth Kelly
• Op Art
• "Extreme" art
• Nothing to "know" about it, just there to be appreciated
• Has a physiological effect, takes advantage of the way the eye percieves it
• "No, no, it just looks really weird."
• Bridget Riley
• Pop Art
• "This doesn't do much for me, though I'd really like to bite it"
• Very textured