“It’s just a bunch of dribbles and it’s a mess” is the likely reaction to both a kindergartener’s first attempts with paints and to the signature works of Jackson Pollock. Of all the abstract painters, Jackson Pollock was the easiest to dismiss while, in many ways, was the most complex in the concepts he hoped to covey with his famous drip paintings.
World War II had ended and like wars before had exposed many to horrors touching the depths of the human psyche and challenging its very sense of humanity. The use of atomic weapons, firestorm bombings of major cities and the revelations of mass genocides created a new sense of anxiety for everyone. Processing these feelings was difficult. Pollock in these paintings was doing exactly that and more — an attempt to transmit anxiety with a form of visual exorcism with results that could be as beautiful as they are, at times, dark.
World War II had ended and like wars before had exposed many to horrors touching the depths of the human psyche and challenging its very sense of humanity. The use of atomic weapons, firestorm bombings of major cities and the revelations of mass genocides created a new sense of anxiety for everyone. Processing these feelings was difficult. Pollock in these paintings was doing exactly that and more — an attempt to transmit anxiety with a form of visual exorcism with results that could be as beautiful as they are, at times, dark.

Photo: Researchers, In. / Alamy
You can read more about Jackson Pollock and see his paintings at jackson-pollock.org. There’s also a terrific DepthRadius article about him and his influence on DeviantArt artists.
A DEVIANTART MURO BRUSH TO HONOR JACKSON POLLOCK
The DeviantArt Muro Drip Brush, in honor of Jackson Pollock, will bring you closer to your anxieties and allow you to explode them all over your canvas. The community looks forward to seeing it all and once you put those anxieties out there we sincerely hope they don’t come back!

Try it out! Use the brush and share your creations in the comments! We'll be featuring some in this article over the next few days.
Try the Brush in DeviantArt Muro
Try the Brush in DeviantArt Muro
Special thanks to DeviantArt developer ArtBIT for building this brush!