Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns are distinct artists in aspects of their style and things that influenced their art. They are, however, both influential artists that changed the face of art in their times and share that in common. Jackson Pollock was motivated into his art by his personal life and struggles. The artist, who dies in a car accident in 1956, was known for his struggle against alcoholism. He met Dr. Joseph Henderson who helped to shape the course of his art career in 1941. The psychiatrist made him express his feelings through art, and that helped him cope with alcoholism. It was a therapeutic way in which he could escape his troubles and air the grievances that made him an alcoholic. He made him draw and paint in different styles that were intended to communicate his feelings. Later studies and research have not been conclusive but have suggested that the painter could have been a victim of bipolar disorder. From then on, the artist took art seriously and rose to become of the most celebrated create people in the United States at the time. Jackson was raised in Arizona and married fellow painter Lee Krasner. Jasper John’s case is different since he was inspired into art by various circumstances and people. One of his motivators was Ludwig Wittgenstein, who was an Australian philosopher. He had a burning sensation to decipher logic, which was what the philosopher centered on in his writings. Painting was his way of understanding the aspect of logic as the philosopher professed and breaking it into different parts. In addition, his personal life curved his art (Landau, Ellen, 22). He had a troubled childhood that always involved moving. In adulthood, he recognized his being gay and was involved with Robert Rauschenberg. He introduced him to a gay couple were composers and choreographers. He was inspired by their utmost exploration of contemporary art, and together, they explored ideas in art. It was through the gay couple that he got his first show and was motivated to do more art.
John’s most famous and celebrated painting is that of the American flag. He painted it in 1954, and it is still in the museum of modern art in New York City. The artist was interested in art that was premised on flags, maps, and things that presented themselves in opposites. He communicated irony and the paradoxes that life possessed through his paintings. His work on the art is said to be based on a dream about the American flag. He had a portrayal of the same flag that contained a three in one set arranged according to their size. In 1961, he did a painting that was filled with a colorful set of maps that were on a piece of canvas. He incorporated the use of different words and numbers to indicate location and things such as time. Jackson Pollock had many different kinds of painting from John, and he insisted on using natural household items. His artwork consisted of elements that were painted in an unorganized way, showcasing different colors and style. For instance, he had a famous painting known as number five that had shapes of a drawn number five. It was then scribbled over by painting that was repeatedly done. Other of such paintings was the convergence, where a series of lines unsystematically converged at a point in a circular motion. Their work was different in every sense. John was the organized one in his work and his ideas were inspired by the geographical and historical things around him. Jasper had the kind of artwork that could represent anything that sprung into his head. Even so, some of his paintings had passion written all over them and included the one titled the moon woman cuts the circle. Jackson was unexpected and spontaneous. He was different from Jasper in that sense because he painted what came to his mind at the moment. Jasper was more of the planned kind of painter. He was inspired by things and planned on how he would paint them.
Jackson Pollock used the style of abstract expressionism. His style included the use of knives and towels as opposed to the traditional manner of painting that embraced the use of a paint brush. He would take a drawing and let it drop from a paint can. In addition, sticks were also part of his props for painting. He referred to his style of painting as action painting, and it was done whenever he felt an insurgency of different kinds of emotions. As mentioned earlier, his paintings were done as an expression of his feelings, therefore making them spontaneous pieces of art. His other style was known as drip and splash. What this form presents is work that is general and appears to be unarranged and all over the place. It does not have particular areas that are emphasized for themes and distinctions that would catch the eye of the viewer. Everything in this kind of style was showcased in a haphazard manner that represented a general painting. Ideally, because of the manner in which the arts were represented, he lacked any dimensions for his paintings. They were drawn on any piece of canvas of any size. Most people did not understand this area of his painting and thought it was unorthodox. Furthermore, he used black and white work in the middle of the 1940s. The paintings were a passive method of art representation that was not identified with most artists at the time. The other artists that thought such styles as mentioned above as absurd ridiculed him because of that. Even so, by the time of his death, his pieces were celebrated, and many artists began incorporating some of the free matureness of his work in their ideas. Maybe his style of painting could be attributed to the kind of personal strife he went through. He did seek art as a means of healing.
Jasper Johns was different from him in the sense that he strayed away from abstract expressionism in art. In his view, a painting needed to include more than what met the eye. It needed to say something as opposed to merely existing. His style was mainly pop art, which sought to embrace the ideologies and ways of lives of the people at the time. He used things such as flags to represent the things that were familiar to people and had a meaning for them. Unlike Jackson, he used all the traditional methods of painting and embraced the use of concrete as a material for his work. Also, he used contemporary things such as newspapers and coffee cans for his art (Crichton, Michael, 2). He also embraced conceptual art that was mainly centered on postmodernism and the changes that it brought. His use of canvas included measurements and dimensions, which was the opposite of what Jackson did. The flags and maps he represented on canvas were precisely cut and well dimensioned to suit the purpose. He did not just paint what he felt in his styles; rather, he painted things that he knew the people would relate to. He sought to communicate with his viewers and represent their ideas. Therefore, unlike was the spontaneous style of Jackson, Jasper critically analyzed his subjects before he put them in painting.
The work of Jackson Pollock had an undertone of romanticism to it because of the manner in which it was represented. It involved a big part of what he was feeling, and the emotions were sprawled on paper, albeit in an unorganized way. His painting captured the beauty that most Europeans who started romanticism sought to escape the rogue manner in which the paintings were made before the renaissance. Jackson expressed himself in his painting even though he did not use the traditional forms of brushes and art props that were more recognizable in the eighteenth century. His painting was amusing and could invoke confused emotions and feelings because of the lack of themes. Even so, the fact that it showcased what he felt meant that it has aspects of romanticism. It is hard to pinpoint if the work of Jasper John had classical undertones. What is certain is that his work did not embrace any degree of romanticism as was the case with Jackson. He, like other artists of Greece, painted that which could be identified in culture and the way people lived. Evan so, his paintings were not as rogue as what the painters in ancient Greece embraced. Therefore, it had some bit of classicism, but only to a small extent. His use of concrete in some of his paintings and mode of sculpturing could be identified with what was the case in ancient Greek.
Works cited
Crichton, Michael. The Art Story. A Guide to Modern Art. Web. <http://www.theartstory.org/artist-johns-jasper.htm>.
Landau, Ellen G. Jackson Pollock. New York: Abrams, 2010. Print.
