Although Jackson Pollock’s works are conventionally displayed vertically — upright on the gallery wall — he famously painted horizontally, with his canvas spread across the floor. In this installation, the typical relation between the artist’s horizontal working process and vertical display is reversed.
The gallery is divided in half by back-to-back monitors that display a pair of archival films of Pollock by Hans Namuth. On each side of the gallery, a sequence from one of the films showing the artist at work is projected onto a horizontal surface. The first film, in black-and-white, is shot from above as Pollock paints on a horizontal canvas. This film is projected onto the gallery floor. The second film, in color, is shot from below the artist as he paints on a horizontal sheet of glass. This film is projected onto the gallery ceiling. The viewer occupies the perspective of the camera with each film, either looking up or down at Pollock as he works.
Action Painting was part of a comprehensive exhibition on Jackson Pollock curated by Ulf Küster at the Fondation Beyeler.
