Convergence by Jackson Pollock
The artwork we have chosen to translate is Jackson Pollock’s painting from 1952 titled Convergence. Pollock’s paintings are clear examples of the ideals during the post-war era in America. Many Americans feared the threat of the Communist nation of Soviet Russia and so Pollock’s abstract expressionism paintings reflected the desire for free speech and freedom of expression. Convergence was produced with oil on canvas and measures 93.5 inches by 155 inches. This painting utilized varying colours, lines, textures, lights, and contrasting shapes to create a visually vibrating piece. Pollock’s style of painting was revolutionary at the time, for he would drip, splatter, pour, and dribble the paint onto the canvas using a wide variety of tools, excluding the use of the traditional paintbrush. Instead, Pollock used wood sticks, trowels, or knives to drip the paint with complete control of thickness, direction, and application. Additionally, Pollock placed the canvas on the ground, rather than atop a propped easel, to allow himself to walk around the canvas and thus approach the painting from each of the four corners.
Joyce, Catrina, and myself have decided to translate Convergence because we enjoy the vibrancy and action is evokes. It is a compelling painting that, when filmed, can convey expressive motion.
We feel Jackson Pollock’s art style is more about his technique rather than the actual composition itself. As a group, we would like to recreate his technique in a new way. Our translation for his piece will be quite unique and a little absurd. We plan to film an overhead shot of a white plate, this will be our “blank canvas”, and then we will whip sauces, condiments and other foods at the plate. Our hands whipping foods at the plate will resemble the technique Pollock uses with paint. We will be applying his procedure, but with different materials and media.
03 | Formal Aspects
Lighting: The lighting of the video will be bright. There should be plenty of light either natural or from a light bulb. We will plan to shoot during the day where there will be a lot of light coming into the space to allow for an optimal lighting setting. The lighting will not be overbearing, where the video is whited out and everything cannot be seen.
Colour: There will be plenty of colour used. Colours will come from the condiments (ketchup, mustard, etc) and other foods used during the video. There will be a range of colours to interpret the same colours used in a typical Jackson Pollock painting. The colours will appear bright as they will be placed on a plain white plate.
Movement: There will be movement within the frame as condiments and foods will be thrown onto the plate. The movement will be fast and quick as we plan to create a fast 30-second video on our rendition of a Jackson Pollock painting. The plate where the condiments will be placed will remain still.
Camera Movement: We will try at least two different ways of creating the video. For the first way, we may not use camera movement, where the frame is focused and shot in one place. For the second way, we may use camera movement where we will gradually move the camera away from the plate. By moving the camera away from the plate, we will be able to show viewers the setting in which the video was taken and what was used to create the Jackson Pollock painting.
Our expectations for the video is to create a piece that is interesting and shows the ways in which we were able to recreate a Jackson Pollock piece. We want the viewers to be curious about the video and wonder what is happening within it - much like a Jackson Pollock painting.
We hope to throw random condiments and foods on a plain white plate. By doing so, we hope that the splatters will look like a Pollock piece. When splattering the condiments and foods, we must pay attention in aiming at the plate, being fast in doing so, and creating a fun piece.
Also, by either moving or not moving the camera, we still need to keep what is happening within the frame is still interesting. We must decide which method is the best for our video.
05 | Documentation/Sketches
