Drip painting
Encyclopedia
Drip painting is a form of abstract art
in which paint is dripped or poured onto the canvas. This style of action painting
was experimented with in the first half of the twentieth century by such artists as Francis Picabia
, and Max Ernst
, who employed drip painting in his works The Bewildered Planet, and Young Man Intrigued by the Flight of a Non-Euclidean Fly (1942). Ernst used the novel means of painting Lissajous figures by swinging a punctured bucket of paint over a horizontal canvas.
Drip painting was however to find particular expression in the work of the mid-twentieth century artist Jackson Pollock
. Pollock found drip painting to his liking; later using the technique almost exclusively, he would make use of such unconventional tools as sticks, hardened brushes and even basting syringes to create large and energetic abstract works.
Jackson Pollock used house paint to create his signature drips. House paint was runny or in a liquid state as opposed to traditional tubes of oil paint.
House paint and sticks/hardened brushes permitted Pollock to create an overall fluid line that blew the traditional divisions of foreground/background and central focus out of the water. His gestural line create a unified overall pattern that allows the eye to travel from one of the canvases to the other and back again.
Sources for the drip technique include Navaho sand painting. Sand painting was down flatly on the ground. Note that this is how Pollock worked. Working flatly, and his drip didn't drip.
Another source is the "underpainting" techniques of the Mexican muralists painters. The drip–splash marks made by mural painter David Alfaro Siqueiros
allow him to work out his composition of a multitude of Mexican workers and heroes.
Contemporary artists who have used drip painting include, Lynda Benglis
, Rodney Graham
, Roxy Paine
, Pat Steir
, Andre Thomkins
, Zane Lewis
, and Zevs
.
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
in which paint is dripped or poured onto the canvas. This style of action painting
Action painting
Action painting sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied...
was experimented with in the first half of the twentieth century by such artists as Francis Picabia
Francis Picabia
Francis Picabia was a French painter, poet, and typographist, associated with both the Dada and Surrealist art movements.- Early life :...
, and Max Ernst
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
, who employed drip painting in his works The Bewildered Planet, and Young Man Intrigued by the Flight of a Non-Euclidean Fly (1942). Ernst used the novel means of painting Lissajous figures by swinging a punctured bucket of paint over a horizontal canvas.
Drip painting was however to find particular expression in the work of the mid-twentieth century artist Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
. Pollock found drip painting to his liking; later using the technique almost exclusively, he would make use of such unconventional tools as sticks, hardened brushes and even basting syringes to create large and energetic abstract works.
Jackson Pollock used house paint to create his signature drips. House paint was runny or in a liquid state as opposed to traditional tubes of oil paint.
House paint and sticks/hardened brushes permitted Pollock to create an overall fluid line that blew the traditional divisions of foreground/background and central focus out of the water. His gestural line create a unified overall pattern that allows the eye to travel from one of the canvases to the other and back again.
Sources for the drip technique include Navaho sand painting. Sand painting was down flatly on the ground. Note that this is how Pollock worked. Working flatly, and his drip didn't drip.
Another source is the "underpainting" techniques of the Mexican muralists painters. The drip–splash marks made by mural painter David Alfaro Siqueiros
David Alfaro Siqueiros
José David Alfaro Siqueiros was a social realist painter, known for his large murals in fresco that helped establish the Mexican Mural Renaissance, together with works by Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, and also a member of the Mexican Communist Party who participated in an...
allow him to work out his composition of a multitude of Mexican workers and heroes.
Contemporary artists who have used drip painting include, Lynda Benglis
Lynda Benglis
Lynda Benglis is an American sculptor known for her wax paintings and poured latex sculptures. After earning a BFA from Newcomb College in 1964, Benglis moved to New York, where she lives and works today...
, Rodney Graham
Rodney Graham
Rodney Graham is an artist and musician born in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He is most often associated with the Vancouver School...
, Roxy Paine
Roxy Paine
Roxy Paine is an American artist. He was educated at both the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico and the Pratt Institute in New York....
, Pat Steir
Pat Steir
Pat Steir is an American painter and printmaker.-Education:Steir was born in 1940 in Newark, New Jersey, and currently lives in New York City. She attended the Pratt Institute in New York from 1956 to 1958, and Boston University College of Fine Arts from 1958 to 1960. She then returned to Pratt,...
, Andre Thomkins
André Thomkins
André Thomkins is a Swiss painter, illustrator, and poet. From 1952, he lived in Germany and taught at the art academy in Düsseldorf between 1971 and 1973....
, Zane Lewis
Zane Lewis
Zane Lewis is an American visual artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.-Life and work:Recognized for his unique drip painting technique in which cascades of poured paint leak from images and sometimes spill onto the floor, Christopher Bollen, Editor of Interview Magazine, called Lewis'...
, and Zevs
ZEVS
Zevs or ZEVS may refer to:* ZEVS, A Soviet/Russian submarine communication system, see Communication with submarines.* Zevs, A French street artist, see Zevs...
.