SOME PAINTINGS ASK TO BE READ. FULL FATHOM FIVE ASKS TO BE ENTERED. JACKSON POLLOCK LAID THE CANVAS ON THE FLOOR AND POURED, AND WHAT REMAINED WAS NOT A PICTURE OF A THING BUT A FIELD OF ENERGY HELD STILL. FOR 1812 IT HAS ALWAYS MARKED THE DARKER AND MORE INSTINCTIVE EDGE OF THE WORLD WE MAKE IN. THE PLACE WHERE CONTROL AND ABANDON MEET. WHERE NOTHING IS LEFT TO CHANCE.
PAINTED IN BLACK AND SILVER HOUSEHOLD PAINT, WORKED WITH A STICK AND THE HANDLE OF A BRUSH, FULL FATHOM FIVE WAS THE FIRST WORK IN WHICH POLLOCK USED HIS DRIP TECHNIQUE WITH FULL CONVICTION. INTO THE WET SURFACE HE PRESSED NAILS, BUTTONS, COINS, MATCHES, CIGARETTE ENDS AND A KEY, EACH ONE HALF BURIED, EACH ONE ADDING WEIGHT AND TEXTURE TO THE WHOLE. THE TITLE COMES FROM THE TEMPEST, FROM ARIEL'S SONG FOR A MAN LOST TO THE SEA, AND A SHIMMERING SEA GREEN RUNS THROUGH THE PAINTING LIKE WATER. BORN IN CODY, WYOMING IN 1912, TRAINED UNDER THOMAS HART BENTON AND THROUGH THE YEARS OF THE WPA, POLLOCK BROKE FROM EVERYTHING EUROPEAN THAT CAME BEFORE HIM AND MADE SOMETHING WHOLLY HIS OWN. AT 1812 WE RECOGNISE THE LESSON. MATERIAL SHOULD CARRY PHYSICAL TRUTH. THE HAND SHOULD REMAIN VISIBLE IN THE THING IT MAKES.
POLLOCK CALLED THE CANVAS AN ARENA. NOTHING IN IT HAPPENED BY ACCIDENT. THE ENERGY WAS REAL, AND IT WAS DIRECTED, GOVERNED BY MOVEMENT AND MEMORY AND AN INNER STRUCTURE ONLY HE COULD FEEL. THAT IS THE BALANCE WE WORK TOWARDS. CONTROL THAT DOES NOT KILL THE ENERGY. PRECISION THAT STILL BREATHES. A TRAINER MADE BY HAND IN ENGLAND CARRIES THE SAME TENSION, ELEGANCE AND INSTINCT HELD TOGETHER UNTIL THEY SETTLE. POLLOCK SHOWED THAT STRUCTURE NEED NOT BE RIGID TO BE POWERFUL. WE BUILD ON THAT.
