Jackson Pollock
Number 1A, 1948 (MoMA, New York)
ART MOVEMENT MODERN · 1950S · USA
Abstract Expressionism Pollock
Jackson Pollock action painting drip. All-over poured enamel skeins, no-subject gestural energy, Springs Long Island studio floor.
ab-exgesturalalloverdrip
WHEN TO USE
- Videos exploring raw creative process, artistic chaos, or unfiltered emotion
- Abstract backgrounds for music videos, particularly experimental or jazz content
- Brand films for paint, art supply, or creative tool companies
- Title cards and motion graphics where gestural energy is the message
- Social content about mental health, therapy, or emotional release through art
- Documentary interludes representing memory, trauma, or subconscious thought
- Creative agency reels that want to signal uncompromising artistic identity
WHEN NOT TO USE
- Product videos requiring clear visual hierarchy or legibility
- Corporate explainers where clarity and professionalism are paramount
- Content targeting audiences who expect polished, photorealistic imagery
- Tutorials or instructional content where the viewer needs to track specific elements
- Brand identities that rely on minimalism or geometric precision
SIGNATURE TECHNIQUES
How the look is made.
The moves a human crew would use to get here. Cue applies them for you, and knowing their names is how you ask for a change.
- 01Drip and pour
paint applied by dripping, pouring, or flicking - never brushed in the traditional sense
- 02All
over composition: no compositional hierarchy; energy distributed across the entire surface
- 03Gestural marks that record the artist's physical movement and speed
- 04Industrial materials
house paint, enamel, sand, broken glass embedded in paint
- 05Large scale
canvases designed to surround and immerse rather than be viewed from a distance
- 06Layering and transparency
multiple pours create depth without illusionistic space
- 07Earthy and raw palette
blacks, whites, ochres, raw umbers alongside sudden chromatic bursts
HISTORY & CONTEXT
Where it comes from.
Abstract Expressionism: Pollock and the New York School
Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York City in the 1940s and dominated avant-garde art through the mid-1950s. It was the first distinctly American movement to achieve international influence, positioning New York as the new center of the Western art world after World War II displaced European artists to the United States.
Jackson Pollock and Drip Painting
Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) is the movement's most iconic figure. Between 1947 and 1951, he developed his radical drip technique: laying large canvases flat on the floor and pouring or flicking industrial enamel and house paint from above, moving around all four sides. The resulting skeins of paint record the physical gestures of his entire body. Key works include Number 1A, 1948, Lavender Mist (1950), and Autumn Rhythm: Number 30 (1950), all housed at MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Pollock described his method as accessing the unconscious directly - influenced by the Surrealist concept of automatism and Jungian psychology. Critics like Clement Greenberg championed the work as the logical endpoint of modernist flatness.
The Broader Movement
Abstract Expressionism divides into two loose camps. Action Painters - Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Lee Krasner - prioritized the physical act of painting; visible brushwork and drips record motion and time. Color Field Painters - Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still - pursued expansive, meditative color relationships. Both camps shared a belief that painting could carry existential weight and emotional truth without representation.
Willem de Kooning's Woman I (1950-52) combined gestural attack with figuration. Franz Kline's monumental black-and-white canvases (Chief, 1950) reduced painting to raw calligraphic slashes. Lee Krasner, long overshadowed by her husband Pollock, produced major works in the movement including her Little Image series (1946-50).
Visual Characteristics
The style is defined by all-over composition (no single focal point), dense layering, visible process, and a scale designed to envelop the viewer. Color is used intuitively rather than symbolically. The paint surface itself - drips, splatters, knife marks, impasto - is the subject.
NOTABLE WORKS
Where you have seen it.
Jackson Pollock
Autumn Rhythm: Number 30, 1950 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Jackson Pollock
Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950 (National Gallery of Art)
Willem de Kooning
Woman I, 1950-52 (MoMA, New York)
Franz Kline
Chief, 1950 (MoMA, New York)
Lee Krasner
The Seasons, 1957 (Whitney Museum of American Art)
Mark Rothko
No. 61 (Rust and Blue), 1953 (MOCA Los Angeles)
Barnett Newman
Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1950-51 (MoMA, New York)
THE RECIPE
The exact knobs
the renderer turns.
A Look is not a filter. It is a set of stored decisions the pipeline reads before it makes a single frame, so two videos in the same Look actually match.
SettingValue
TransitionHow one shot becomes the next
hard cuts · 160ms · linearKen BurnsCamera move applied to stills
Slow push · 0.02 · centerTypographyDisplay / body / mono pairing
Playfair Display · Lora · JetBrains MonoMusic moodWhat the bed under the voice sounds like
free-jazz · percussion-improvisationPrompt suffixAppended to every shot prompt in this Look
Jackson Pollock action painting drip, allover poured enamel skeins, no subject gestural energy, Abstract Expressionism 1950PALETTE
Primary
#0A0A0A
Secondary
#F0E6D0
Accent
#C8893E
Text/Light
#0A0A0A
Text/Dark
#F5F0E0
BG 900
#1A1410
BG 800
#2A2418
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