Pollock

I just got around to seeing the movie "Pollock" starring Ed Harris.

I am predisposed to like stories of self-destruction. My high school English teacher must have made an indelible impression in my mind about the tragically flawed hero. I liked this story.

Last fall when I tried some drip painting myself, I came away realizing that is was much harder than it looked. The experience itself was much more visceral than I ever would have guessed.

The oddest thing happened when we displayed the paintings at the office. People, not knowing who completed which painting, would point to mine and say they sensed anger in the painting or the painter. No one could articulate why they felt that way, but it was not an uncommon response.

I really liked the movie a lot. It portrayed Pollock as a very complicated and difficult character who was still loved. How did Lee Krasner live with him given his inner demons?

I loved seeing the "aha" moment when he began experimenting with dripped paint, although I don't know how accurate that scene was. It was sad to watch a movie showing his life as a long slow train wreck ending with his early and senseless death. Better to feel sad watching a movie than to feel almost nothing real at all, which is the case with a lot of movies I've seen (Revenge of the Sith, ahem). Psychological self-destructive dramas are my favorite kind of horror movie and this movie in particular is an excellent example of the genre.

If you ever get a chance to see a Pollock painting in person, you really should take a look. They are really worth seeing in person. The reproductions lose the texture and the movement that you can see and sense when viewing in person.