Francis bacon: Distortion of Tradition

i couldn't decide exactly what form/movement of 'painting' I prefer in regards to others. I find it difficult to single out a favourite due to both my eclectic and indecisive nature. However when I thought more about what draws me to a particular painting, and it's the piece's nature to hold my interest or gaze. If a piece can cause you to stop and become submersed within it, that suggests to me that it has achieved it primary purpose. The one artist I am constantly drawn to is Francis Bacon, he had an ability to capture a subject in form and likeness then entirely distort the traditions of figurative painting/recording. The mood, emotion and energy projected throughout his work is primarily down to his painting technique.

Typography & Text in my environment

We had been tasked to take a series of photographs that recorded the text and typography in our/my environment. I chose to take photographs of the labels on food and drink, I realised when I was photographing the labels the huge detail, care and consideration that goes into creating packaging. Which reminded of the genre of Folk Art; the art in object and pieces of purpose such as, shop signs, tools, food labels etc.

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956)

Considered as the founder of THE abstract expressionist movement in the art world, Jackson Pollock challenged himself to change the classical perception of art and doing so he unintentionally became the face of American art in the post-war era. Pollock studied in New York under the regionalist painter, Thomas Hart Benton, he worked in the same style throughout the 1930s.

It was the 1940s when Jackson Pollock became well for he unique abstract style. He 'broke' many of the rules installed by the teachings of classical art such as; using the floor as an easel, recording/drawing how he feels, using a form of painting called 'action painting'. Pollock has been considered to be the artist that introduced the method of painting called the 'drip and splash', he built up texture using non-traditional marking forms like knives, trowels and sticks. This style was not only related to the way in which the action was carried but also to the end product of the process. The artworks Jackson Pollock produced avoided any sort of focus or emphasis on any parts of the piece, the style also bares no relation to the size of the canvas which he was working in; the lack of dimensions, and disregard for size of the drawings, were some unique features which this form of art captured. Many of the pieces which Jackson Pollock created following this style, required him to trim or crop the canvas, in order for the image to fit in, and to work with the overall features of the art.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s Pollock continued to introduce figurative and quasi-figurative pieces, of black and white works. However after experimenting and studying this style, to many he was a seen as a new artist and praised by critics for his intuitive and unique artworks. On the other hand his older classical peers didn't embrace the evolution of the art work to which Pollock was to blame for. He was even featured in a 1956 feature of Time Magazine, in which he was coined as "Jack the Dripper,: for the unique style and form which he was introducing, with each new art piece he created. 

Like many artists Jackson Pollock held his own demons, he notoriously battled with alcohol throughout his adult life. This issue not only affected his personal life but his work also suffered, his final battle with alcohol brought not only to the end of his life but also the end of his rule in the abstract art world. 

Many claim that it was Jackson Pollock who created a path for this art form, and the artists who followed him. By breaking the mold in 1947, with his 'drip and splash' style, he showed the art world, and critics, what could possibly come in the future, and the new styles that were possible, with an open mind to the creative process. 

The Deep (1953)

Convergence (1952)