This has been another one of my favourite artworks. It is an art work of great beauty and depth. In the true form of Jackson Pollack, he intertwined think layers of paint of different kinds and colours. Amidst the layer of paint are shards of glass, that from a distance cannot be viewed but up close protrude from the entangled hues. This is a painting that was greatly misunderstood when it was introduced to the Australian Public in 1973. However, it is an artwork that many have come to just accept without any appreciation, that many have come to recognise as symbolic of Australia's move into the 20th Century of Art appreciation and that many from the outset celebrated it's uniqueness recognising the genius work of Pollack.
Up close to this painting you can see how the dominant blue poles protect, shape and restrict the explosive mess of colour that is pulled in multiple directions underneath them. The blue poles stand strong with slight movement extending from them in similar directions showing a flow, a sense of symmetry and compliance with the direction of the artwork. However, when you look below these 'blue poles" you see the multiple directions of the oil and aluminium based paint. You can see that tubes of colour have been used to create density on the canvas, there is depth and as you allow your eyes to seep deeper into the intoxicating swirls and lines of the artwork you enter an endless map where neither beginning or end can be found as one colour is manipulated to fall under the protrusion of another colour. This was a deliberate technique that Pollack experimented with in his artworks. He was not only interested in the standard placement of the paint in any traditional form, but wanted to see how the paint could be manipulated without the intrusion of the artists brush. The canvas would be laid flat on the floor and the paint placed in layers, then he would lift the canvas, tilting it and manipulating its physical direction to allow the paint to feel the gravitational pull and weight of the other layers of paint, experimenting with the viscosity of the paints to achieve random directions underneath he sturdy blue poles. This experimentation also include the placement of glass shards to see how the paint would move around the sharp obstacle depending on the tilt. The result, paint that has moved over the shards; while other colours were separated by the glass and then reunited at the bottom after a momentary separation.
This artwork is a perfect description of the human heart, soul and mind and it's interaction with the world around us both physically, mentally, socially, emotionally and spiritually. We are all these beautiful layers of bursting colour and depending on the situations we find ourselves often determines whether we are strong enough to move over obstacles or we allow ourselves growth through separation, through tearing, being moulded and shaped into something new, the changing of paths and directions. Regardless of how we are shaped and changed in moments of obstacles, the glass is still sharp, it's edges still cut and wound us. This is to be expected in a world where we are twisted and tilted in the face of a change. It is going to hurt. We are going to want to surrender to hopelessness and loss. We are going to shut ourselves off to the world and others, and remain in our own paradigm pretending that there is nothing wrong. Change hurts. Change is effort. Change is inevitable. But with the ever developing layers of who we are, we have been made to be malleable, ductile, supple, adaptable and workable. Although we have been made to be all of these things, we do not need to sacrifice who we are. We have been made to be an explosion of God's colour, he has designed us with strengths and vulnerabilities that are precious. He designed every cell of who we are. Pollack subjected the paint to obstacles and stresses, the paint due to its diversity and resilience was able to withstand where required. God has blessed us with the same pliability and resilience as the paint, he wants us to be vulnerable to show his grace and his strength and he wants us to be strong to show that we stand in faith. His rod and staff like blue poles will always guide us, protect us and contain us when need be. We must not be afraid that in this ever changing world that we are going to change, that in this ever-changing world we will go through moments of hopelessness and in this ever-changing world we are going to move through obstacles with explosive colour. Our layers are many, they have made us who we are and at different times in our life these layers will change and grow to continue to allow us to adapt and change while withstand the change that we feel we must stand firm against.
"Blue Poles" -Jackson Pollack
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