英：TED艺术常识 P6： 抽象表现艺术

If u visit a museum with a collection of modern and contemporary art,

you’re likely to see works that sometimes elicit the response

“My cat could make that.”

So how was it art?

A movement called abstract expressionism, also known as the New York School, gets this reaction particularly often.

Abstract expressionism started in 1943 and developed after the end of WWII.

It’s characterized by large, primarily abstract paintings,

all over compositions was out clear focal points,

and sweeping swabs of paint embodying and eliciting emotions

The group of artists who were considered abstract expressionist includes Barnet Newman with his existential “zips”,

William de Kooning, famous for his travesty of(歪曲) women.

Helen Frankenthaler who created soak stands and others.

But perhaps the most famous, influential and head-scratching one was Jackson Pollok,

most of his paintings are immediately recognizable.

The feature tangled masses/messes(分不清哪个两个都写上) of lines of paint bouncing around in every direction on the canvas.

And sure, this feels of chaos are big and impressive.

But what’s so great about them?

Didn’t he just drip the paint at random?

Can’t anyone do that?

Well, the answer of this question is both yes and no.

While Pollok implemented technique, anyone is technically capable of, regardless of artist training, only he could have made his paintings.

This paradox relates to his works roots in the surrealistic automatic drawing of Andre Masson and others.

These surrealists supposedly drove directly from unconscious to review truth hidden within their minds.

Occasionally, instead of picturing something and then drawing it, they let their hands move automatically and would later tease out familiar figures that appeared in the scribbles.

And after Pollok moved away from representation, he made drip or action paintings, following a similar premise.

Though he developed a signature technique and never looked for images or messages hidden in the works.

First, he took the canvas off the easel and laid it on the floor, a subversive(颠覆性的) act in itself.

Then, in a controlled dance, he stepped all around the canvas, dripping industrial paint onto it from stirs and other tools, changing speed and direction to control how the paint may contact with the surface.

These movements like the surrealist scribbles were supposedly born out of Pollok’s subconscious.

But unlike the surrealists whose pictures represented the minds hidden in contents,

Pollok supposedly made physical manifestations of his psyche

His paintings are themselves signatures of his mind.

In theory, anyone could make a painting that is an imprint of their mind.

So why is Pollok so special?

Well, it’s important to remember that while anyone could have done what he did, he and the rest of the New York School were the ones who actually did it.

They destroyed the conventions of painting that has stood for centuries, forcing the art world to rethink them entirely.

But one last reason why Jackson Pollok’s work has stayed prominent stands for the specific objects he made which embody fascinating contradictions.

For instance, while Pollok’s process resulted in radically flat painted surfaces, the width of painted lines can create the illusion of an infinite layered depth when examined up close.

And the chaos of this tangled mess seems to defy all control but it’s actually the product of a deliberate though not pre-planned process.

These characteristics made Pollok into a celebrity and within art history, they also elevated him to the mystified status of the genius artist as hero.

So rather than even in the plain field for all created minds, his work unfortunately reinforced a long-standing elitist aspect of art.

Elitist, innovative, whatever u choose to call it,

the history embedded in abstractionism is one that no cat, however talented, can claim.

• elicit 引出，探出；诱出 （to get information or a reaction from sb. often with difficulty）Mr. Norris said he was hopeful that his request would elicit a positive response N先生说希望他的请求能够引起积极反响

  The crime elicited an outcry against illicit drugs. 那起罪行引发了打击违禁药品的呼声

  Her tears elicited great sympathy from her audience.

• embody 具体表现，体现，代表；包括，收录

  The new building embodied the idea of the architect.

  This model embodies many new features. 这种型号具有许多新特点

• tangle （n.）乱糟糟的一堆，混乱，纠纷，争执，打架 (v.) 使缠绕，纠结，乱作一团

  (探戈是tango, hhh听到这个读音以为这个是探呀探戈走呢)

  His financial affairs are in a tangle.

  I was thinking what a tangle we had got ourselves into.

  Animals get tangled in fishing net and drown

• tease sth. out 梳理，梳通（毛发等）；探讨，深入研究，梳理清楚

  The teacher helped them tease out the meaning of the poem.

• scribble (v.) 草草记下，匆匆书写；乱写，乱画 (n.) 潦草的文字，胡写乱画的东西

• canvas 帆布；（帆布）画布，油画

  under canvas 在帐篷里

• easel 画架；（旧时）黑板架

• manifestation 显示，表示；（幽灵的）显现，显灵

  The riots are a clear manifestation of the people’s discontent

  The church is the site of a number of supernatural manifestations.

• psyche 灵魂，心灵，精神，心态（your deepest feelings and attitudes）

  His exploration of the myth brings insight into the American psyche.

• imprint (v.) 产生重大影响，铭刻，使铭记；印，压印 (n.) 印记，痕迹；持久影响

  The terrible scenes were indelibly imprinted on/in his mind.

  the imprint of a foot in the sand

• defy 违抗，反抗，蔑视；无法，难以（相信，解释，描述等）；经受住，顶住；挑战，激，认为…不敢（或无法）（做）

  I wouldn’t have dared to defy my teachers.

  The beauty of scene defies description. 景色之美简直难以描述

  The baby boy defied all the odds and survived. (stayed alive when it seemed certain that he would die.)

  I defy u to come up with one major accomplishment of the current Prime Minister我敢说你讲不出现任首相的哪怕一项重大成就

• embed 把…牢牢地嵌入（或插入，埋入）；派遣（战地/摄影记者）

  These attitudes are deeply embedded in our culture.这些看法在我们社会中根深蒂固