A masterpiece by “Jack the Dripper”

Jack shown dripping below.

Many people, when confronted with paintings by Pollock and the New York School, can’t understand what the artist was doing or why.

The best way I can explain early modern art is to paraphrase one of the artists working in the style: Traditional painting techniques just didn’t jive with contemporary life.  Realism, perspective, and all of the aims of the western painting tradition from the Renaissance through the mid-19th century, just could not be used any longer to express the developments and atrocities witnessed in the 20th century.  Who wants to look at a perfectly captured painting of an atomic bomb blowing up?  A photograph can capture it.  Leave those subjects for photography and begin to explore other ideas.  Dive into the deep end of your subconscious.

And also, judging from this gallery scene, it helps if you wear all black when you study a Pollock on the wall!