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“Painting is self-discovery. EVERY GOOD ARTIST PAINTS WHAT HE IS.” - Jackson Pollock

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“If people would just look at the paintings, I don't think they would have any problem enjoying them. It's like looking at a bed of flowers, it's not like you're going to pull your hair out over it.” - Jackson Pollock

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"ART means being FACE TO FACE WITH YOURSELF." - Jackson Pollock

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“THE SECRET OF SUCCESS IS...to be fully aware of yourself.” - Jackson Pollock

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“Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was once a critic who wrote that MY PAINTINGS HAVE NO BEGINNING OR END. He didn’t say it as a compliment, but that’s what it was.” - Jackson Pollock

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"There are no accidents, just as there is NO BEGINNING AND NO END." - Jackson Pollock

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“WHEN I AM IN A PAINTING, I AM NOT AWARE OF WHAT I AM DOING. Only after a certain period of familiarity do I come to see what I have done. I am not afraid to make changes, to destroy an image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I let it happen. It is only when I lose touch with the painting that it results in a mess. Otherwise there is just pure harmony, an easy give-and-take, and the painting comes out well.” - Jackson Pollock

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“Painting is not the problem. The problem is what to do when you are not painting.” - Jackson Pollock

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“THE MODERN ARTIST IS LIVING IN A MECHANICAL AGE and we have mechanical means of representing objects in nature such as the camera and the photograph. The modern artist, it seems to me, is working and expressing an inner world, in other words, EXPRESSING ENERGY, MOTION AND OTHER INNER FORCES.” - Jackson Pollock

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“A CANVAS IS AN ARENA OF ACTION.” - Jackson Pollock

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"THE MODERN ARTIST IS WORKING WITH SPACE AND TIME, expressing his feelings, not illustrating them." - Jackson Pollock

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“I do not paint nature. I AM NATURE.” - Jackson Pollock

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“I WANT TO EXPRESS MY FEELINGS, NOT TO ILLUSTRATE THEM.” - Jackson Pollock

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“You can’t learn techniques and then try to become a painter. TECHNIQUES ARE A RESULT.” - Jackson Pollock

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“The modern painter cannot express this age, the airplane, the atomic bomb, the radio, the old forms of the Renaissance or any past culture. Each age finds its own technique.” - Jackson Pollock

Photo Credit: Carl Court / Staff

Source: Getty Images Europe