Pollock's Paintings

I have to say that I am a fan of Jackson Pollock's paintings. While I'm not quite sure I would ever spend money to buy one, I would much rather look at paintings like these then try to decipher paintings like Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase (pg 13 in our books). The most common complaint is that of "oh, well even I could 'paint' that." The question is, why haven't you. And, is the reason people don't actually like him because of the fact that they are jealous that he made so much money by just splattering paint? In my opinion, that makes him a genius. You can't fault the man for finding and maybe exploiting a way to make money doing the thing he loved. I think by not using a brush to place a line of color exactly where he thought it should be, but instead just flinging it and letting the paint land wherever, Pollock created a whole other style of art. Just how Picasso changed art by allowing a person to be painted from different view points, Pollock allowed art to not always be something in which you have to search to discover a meaning. When I think of the word "art", the broadest definition is: something pretty or interesting to look at. That is exactly what Pollock's art is for me, pretty and interesting to look at. The colors in his paintings with all their different shades blend together so well, yet you can see so many distinctions. I personally love how his paintings give off the feeling of having so much depth.
The thing that impresses me the most, is that Pollock created a style that everyone COULD do, if they wanted to. While somebody won't get paid as much as Pollock did, if they wanted to be an artist, they could be. I don't see this as lowering the standard of art, but instead, making art accessible to everyone. For this, Jackson Pollock has earned my respect as an artist.

No. 5, 1948

This painting became the most expensive painting in the world in 2006, when it was sold privately for $140 million dollars. (The world’s most famous painting are generally owned by museums, which very rarely sell them, which makes them quite literally priceless) Way to go Pollock.