Zitate von Jackson Pollock

„Wenn ich in meinem Bild bin, bin ich mir nicht bewußt, was ich tue. Erst nach einer Periode des Vertrautwerdens sehe ich, was ich gemacht habe.“

—  Jackson Pollock

in Jürgen Claus: Theorien zeitgenössischer Malerei in Selbstzeugnissen. Rowohlt 1963. S. 63, auch in Kammerlohr, "Epochen der Kunst", Band 5; Oldenbourg Verlag 1995
Original englisch: "When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about." - My Painting, in: Possibilities I, 1947-48, "Problems of Contemporary Art" v. 4, Georg Wittenborn Inc. New York. Zitiert in Ellen H. Johnson: American artists on art from 1940 to 1980, 1982. p. 4,
Zitate mit Quellengabe

„I don't care for 'Abstract expressionism'.... and it is certainly not 'non-objective', and not 'non-representational' either. I'm very representational some of the time, and a little all of the time. But when you're painting out of your consciousness, figures are bound to emerge. We're all of us influenced by Freud, I guess. I've been a Jungian for a long time... Painting is a state of being... Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.“

—  Jackson Pollock

In an interview (1956); published in Conversations with Artists, by Seldon Rodman, New York, Capricorn Books, 1961, pp. 84-85
1950's

„No chaos, damn it.“

—  Jackson Pollock

„I believe easel painting to be a dying form, and the tendency of modern feeling is toward the wall picture or mural..“

—  Jackson Pollock

In his application for a grant given by the Guggenheim Foundation 1944; as quoted in Abstract expressionism, Barbara Hess, Taschen Köln, 2006, p. 9
1940's

„As to what I would like to be. It is difficult to say. An Artist of some kind. If nothing else I shall always study the Arts. People have always frightened and bored me, consequently I have been within my own shell and have not accomplished anything materially.“

—  Jackson Pollock

Quote in Pollock's letter, Los Angeles 22 October, 1929 to Charles and Frank in New York; published in: Jackson Pollock (2011) American Letters: 1927-1947. p. 16
1925 - 1940

„When I am in my painting, I am not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a short of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.“

—  Jackson Pollock

In 'Possibilities', Vol. 1, no 1, winter 1947-48, p. 79; as quoted in Jackson Pollock (1983) by Elizabeth Frank, p. 68
1940's

„Love is friendship set to music.“

—  Jackson Pollock

„every good artist paints what he is“

—  Jackson Pollock

„The important thing is that Clyff Still – you know his work? – and Rothko, and I – we've changed the nature of painting… I don't mean there aren't any other good painters. Bill [ Willem the Kooning ] is a good painter, but he's a 'French' painter [Pollock meant: a French-abstract style]. I told him so, the last time I saw him after his last show,… all those pictures in his last show start with an image. You can see it even though he's covered it up, or tried to…. Style – that's the French part of it. He has to cover it up with style.. [answering Seldon Rodman's question]“

—  Jackson Pollock

In an interview (1956); published in Conversations with Artists, by Seldon Rodman, New York, Capricorn Books, 1961, pp. 84-85
1950's

„The modern artist is living in a mechanical age and we have a mechanical means of representing objects in nature such as the camera and photograph. The modern artist, it seems to me, is working and expressing an inner world – in other words – expressing the energy, the motion and the other inner forces.... the modern artist is working with space and time, and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating.“

—  Jackson Pollock

Quelle: 1950's, Interview by William Wright, Summer 1950, pp. 139-140

„I accept the fact that the important painting of the last hundred years was done in France. American painters have generally missed the point of modern painting from beginning to end... Thus the fact that good European moderns [European artists who lived in the U. S. because of the Nazi-regime] are now here is very important, for they bring with them an understanding of the problems of modern painting. I am particularly impressed with their concept of the source of art being the unconscious. These idea interests me more than these specific artists do, for the two artists I admire most, Picasso and Joan Miró, are still abroad.“

—  Jackson Pollock

As quoted in Abstract Expressionism: Creators and Critics, ed. Clifford Ross, Abrahams Publishers, New York, 1990, p. 138
1940's, Art and Architecture (1944)

„Each age finds its own technique... I mean, the strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings in modern art.“

—  Jackson Pollock

As quoted in Francis V. O'Connor (1967) Jackson Pollock, p. 79
in posthumous publications

„I don't work from drawings and colour sketches into a final painting. Painting, I think, today – the more immediate, the more direct – the greater the possibilities of making a direct – of making a statement.“

—  Jackson Pollock

Quelle: 1950's, Interview by William Wright, Summer 1950, p. 144

„Well, method is, it seems to me, a natural growth out of a need, and from a need the modern artist has found new ways of expressing the world about him. I happen to find ways that are different from the usual techniques, which seems a little strange at the moment, but I don't think there's anything very different about it. I paint on the floor and this isn't unusual – the Orientals did that.“

—  Jackson Pollock

Quelle: 1950's, Interview by William Wright, Summer 1950, pp. 142-143

„The important thing is that Clyff Still – you know his work?“

—  Jackson Pollock

and Rothko, and I – we've changed the nature of painting.. .I don't mean there aren't any other good painters. Bill [ Willem the Kooning ] is a good painter, but he's a 'French' painter [Pollock meant: a French-abstract style]. I told him so, the last time I saw him after his last show,. ..all those pictures in his last show start with an image. You can see it even though he's covered it up, or tried to.. ..Style – that's the French part of it. He has to cover it up with style.. [answering Seldon Rodman's question]
In an interview (1956); published in Conversations with Artists, by Seldon Rodman, New York, Capricorn Books, 1961, pp. 84-85
1950's

„Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn't have any beginning or any end. He didn't meant it as a compliment, but it was. It was a fine compliment. Only he didn't know it.“

—  Jackson Pollock

In 'Unframed Space' interview with Berton Roueché, The New Yorker (5 August 1950); as quoted in The Grove Book of Art Writing: Brilliant Words on Art from Pliny the Elder to Damien Hirst ed. Martin Gayford and Karen Wright [Grove Press, 2000, ISBN 0-802-13720-2], p. 546
1950's

„It seems to me that the modern painter cannot express his age, the airplane the atom bomb, the radio, in the old forms of Renaissance or of any past culture. Each age finds its own technique…“

—  Jackson Pollock

Quelle: 1950's, Interview by William Wright, Summer 1950, p. 17

„I can control the flow of paint; there is no accident..“

—  Jackson Pollock

1940's
Quelle: Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, Ines Janet Engelmann, Prestel Verlag Munich, 2007, p. 54

„The idea of an isolated American painting, so popular in this country during the thirties, seems absurd to me, just as the idea of a purely American mathematics or physics would seem absurd... And in another sense, the problem doesn't exist at all; or, if it did, would solve itself: An American is an American and his painting would naturally be qualified by the fact, whether he wills or not. But the basic problems of contemporary painting are independent of any one country.“

—  Jackson Pollock

As quoted in Abstract Expressionism: Creators and Critics, ed. Clifford Ross, Abrahams Publishers, New York, 1990, p. 138
1940's, Art and Architecture (1944)