Jackson Pollock is most famous for his enormous dripped paintings. These works were so outrageous in their time that they changed the course of modern art, opening up whole worlds of possibility, profoundly influencing a generation of painters including the Painters Eleven – so well represented in the RMG. Unfortunately for Pollock, his burst of genius was also his undoing and he struggled to find a way out, retreating to all black, partly figurative pieces in his last year of productivity.
I have taken up the technical challenge of painting with dripping paint to produce a biographical study of “Jack the Dripper”. Where Pollock used oil based enamels and lacquers, I’ve used acrylic house paint. Where Pollock added glass and sand and nails and cigarette butts, I have in some cases mixed the paint with ground stone to produce stucco. Where Pollock’s work is gestural and energetic, the demands of realism call for more precise and controlled dripping. I call it “inaction painting”- waiting for the drip to fall.
While the cast of supporting characters may need introduction to the uninitiated, I believe it comes through loud and clear that Pollock was a seriously flawed individual.
Eric Rosser – Artist Biography
Eric Rosser is a Whitby based, self-taught painter, house painter, carpenter, musician/songwriter, performer, cook and bon vivant. His brush technique and colour mixing skills continue to be honed by his colour-field work for residential clients, but his greater love is painting pictures. In recent years he has produced a series of shows. Each has been radically different than the one preceding it; from a meditation on waves to an irreverent exploration of Picasso, from birds-eye views of New York to the life and times of Jackson Pollock, painted realistically, in drips. The journey continues as he is now learning fresco. Check out his website at www.ericrosser.com