The Flame

Artist

Pollock was a large part of the abstract expressionism movement and produced unique works before his death in 1956. His works often are attempts at expressing his deep inner emotions and emotional struggles (from Looking Out). He was famous for his unique and expressive style of painting, called the drip painting. While the technique was not used to create The Flame, the art resulting from this technique was completely abstract and purely for his expression. That details what kind of artist he was: expression was absolutely necessary.

Work

I was first attracted to Jackson Pollock's The Flame due to the fire's intensity and the vibrate flames. After researching Pollock, I can imagine that this painting was expressing the anxiety that is endured by some. When looking closely at the original, there are human remains in the middle of the flames. This further validated that this was an expression of something that plagues human existence and can destroy someone.

The Original

The Remake

Approach

When recreating this work, I really wanted to retain the intensity that was in the flames and their vibrant colors. I simplified the color palette but retained the original shapes of the flames. I also wanted to draw more attention to the human remains. In the recreation, they cannot be mistaken for the flames. This makes it clear that the anxiety that is represented by the flames is affecting humans. Furthermore, I felt that there should be someone or something to blame for these anxieties. I added a figure to the left; it is in the darkness. It may be interpreted as an internal part of the human mind or the external causes of anxieties (and the flames).

Product

I used Photoshop to digitally recreate the work. The biggest issue I ran into was getting this done within the 2-hour time limit. I have almost no experience in Photoshop so it was very hard for me to get the results that I wanted. I had to go with plain vibrant colors (simple color palette) and flood filling because I could not figure out the appropriate brush settings to achieve the oil painting effect that I desired. Overall, I just felt really inexperienced. I feel like it would be helpful to see or read up on how others worked on their recreations (if they used Photoshop) to learn.

Reflection

I am happy with my remake. I added what I wanted to add (a dark, mysterious potential cause of anxiety) while highlighting the what I wanted to (the human remain), and still retaining the intensity with vibrant colors. I still think looking at the painting will evoke a similar emotional response as the original. This could even be heightened with some additional anxiety from the presence of the figure on the left. An improvement would be flames that "flow" better, instead of very solid flames, but for my experience and the time limit given, I believe I did well and I was able to add to my Photoshop experience. Perhaps, provided I had more time, I would have given the flames a more painted look. Using a brush to make strokes look "multi-colored/mixed" (bad way of describing it) like I think they do in real paintings and not look horrible was something I could not figure out.

3 comments · Latest by Kevin Ramser

A strong first attempt with using Photoshop to create a composition. You managed to translate a the texture of the painting into your reproduction, and I think it’s great how you reinterpreted the original by added a figure and highlighting the remains within the fire. Very thoughtful, and also a good job giving context on the artist and the painting.

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Digital Reproduction

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62-150 Intro to Media Synthesis and Analysis

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About

A remake of Jackson Pollock's The Flame, with the goal of maintaining the intensity while drawing focus to the human remains