For long, artists that were involved in creating modern abstract paintings found that they had to first overcome the challenge of finding the right and larger sized format with which to create more unique works of art. Though cubism had been around and had made use of several forms it did suffer from being limited to creating works of art in a smaller scale because it was not possible to relate one item of art with another on a larger or wider scale. That is until Jackson Pollack hit the scene and changed the face of modern abstract painting.
American Color Field Of Modern Abstract Painting
There were, at the time, in fact three main exponents of the American Color Field group of painters that included names such as Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis as too Kenneth Noland with the first named very closely associated with the great Jackson Pollack. In fact, Pollack and Frankenthaler often, along with Clement Greenberg, a noted art critic, got together in New York to share experiences related to how modern abstract painting would move in the times to come.
Jackson Pollack of course created his own unique brand of modern abstract paintings that dripped with and splashed color on large sized canvasses that he had to place in his barn and on the floor (instead of on an easel) and these works were in fact Cubist in so far as they were limited in color scale and which used linear workings as well as incorporated repetition of forms. These Pollack works of modern abstract paintings were to become the trademark of modern art and more so when the Color Field group of painters also began to make use of his concepts.
Frankenthaler was greatly impressed by Jackson Pollack’s modern abstract paintings and she too began to experiment with working on her paintings from a whole host of different directions and on a level surface instead of on the easel. She saw Pollack at work and soon adopted his approach in all her future works.
Even Morris Louis followed the trend set by Pollack and his works that were renowned for being joyous and very colorful, were works of modern abstract paintings that consisted of stripes that overlapped in crisscross fashion and which resembled petals radiating from the middle of beautiful flower. All of this was again inspired by Jackson Pollack.
For a novice abstract painter starting the journey in abstract painting should actually begin with first creating works of abstract acrylic paintings and then after gaining mastery it is possible for them to think in terms of creating abstract oil paintings. The reason being that acrylic dries out rather quickly which ensures that you can over-paint whenever necessary and so use a single session to do a number of things that will help ensure better results.
