Ja(ckson) Po(llock) 4 collab vispo book

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Comment by De Villo Sloan on January 21, 2012 at 8:53pm

Hi Alicia, and thanks for the heads up on "A Man Within."

Comment by Alicia Starr on January 21, 2012 at 7:53pm

There is a promo of WSB: A Man Within on YouTube. And many other Burroughs films as well.  Thanks for the heads up. 

Comment by De Villo Sloan on January 21, 2012 at 4:02pm

Thanks again, Erni. I would guess that was the trip where the Gershwins met this DaDa-Marxist I mentioned. He had gotten himself into political hot water in Mexico or Cuba. I don't have my Pollock bio at hand. The Gershwins used their influence to obtain asylum in the US for him, although his stay was brief.

This artist the Gershwin's brought back founded an art collective in NYC. They did all kinds of randomness based/ collaborative collages, etc. Again, a big emphasis on using industrial materials. Pollock attended and it made a huge impression. You have to remember in the US at that time, that kind of work was virtually unknown. 

I shall find the name of this artist, as he deserves a note in our discussions. 

Comment by De Villo Sloan on January 21, 2012 at 12:34pm

Erni, I need to look up the artist's name - but Pollock was influenced by an artist - a truly wild Marxist-DaDaist - who was brought into the US from Mexico by the composer George Gershwin. 

I have to find this for you - the guy was into using industrial auto paints instead of traditional artist's materials, as well as industrial spray guns - and he would fire these things at brick walls often instead of canvases - really forward-looking for that time, if you consider street art and all, and he obviously had a big impact on Pollock's action painting. The guy later died in some political skirmish somewhere. 

Comment by De Villo Sloan on January 21, 2012 at 12:20pm

Nice find on the Chelsea Hotel article, Erni, and accurate to the best of my knowledge. From what I remember reading, the getting sick wasn't a political gesture; he just drank too much.

Pollock, like many others, survived The Great Depression on various forms of government "relief." It gave him 10 years to focus on refining his art. It was similar for De Kooning. This ties into the interesting discussions about whether the government should or shouldn't support artists. 

In the WW II Era, as the article says, the Depression programs were cut and capitalism re-emerged in force. The artists were compelled to try to survive in the market. Peggy Guggenheim financed Pollock during this era (and acquired a lot of his work as a result). Pollock didn't seem to have been particularly political the way other artists he knew were. His brothers and his mothers, along w/ Lee Krasner, were caretakers - the now mythical Pollock misbehavior was the result of horrendous alcoholism. But it put him in the "on a death trip" category. 

I definitely think jazz influenced that tendency to fast, spontaneous composition you see in Kerouac and Pollock as well as many others from that era.

As always, thanks for the additional info!

Comment by De Villo Sloan on January 21, 2012 at 8:08am

Yes, history has shown she is a very fine artist in her own right. Yet in those pre-feminist times, she put everything into promoting her husband's career. He probably wouldn't have gotten half as far without her. For instance, she engineered & encouraged him to do the Life magazine spread, that catapulted him into popcult fame, from which he has never escaped. He really didn't want to do it, and I think the photos reveal it.

Comment by cheryl penn on January 21, 2012 at 8:03am

Yes, was going to say Lee Krasner - an abstract artist in her own right. 

Comment by De Villo Sloan on January 21, 2012 at 8:00am

Lee Krasner, Jackson's all-suffering wife, of course. I believe this is one of the Life magazine photos that brought the shock of the avant garde into the living rooms of the bourgeoisie - and led the US government to conclude that Jackson was a cultural nuke to be deployed against communism (oh my, how well-laid plans can backfire). Interesting times, as all times are interesting.

Comment by cheryl penn on January 21, 2012 at 8:00am

Ok - my favorite artist - as you know :-) - He was an option for Book one, but you've done a great job :-) X