Number 7, 1951 1951

Jackson Pollock made Number 7 in 1951 using enamel paint on canvas, but what I find compelling is how he seems to be thinking *through* the material. The black enamel is dripped and poured, a physical record of Pollock's gestures. Looking closely, you can almost see his movements, the speed and rhythm of his hand. The paint isn't just *on* the canvas; it's *part* of it, woven into its very fabric. Notice the dense cluster of drips at the bottom left, like tangled undergrowth, against the sparser, more linear marks on the left. These marks feel like a coded language, each one unique but part of a larger conversation. The overall impression is both chaotic and strangely ordered, full of energy, and also very still. Pollock reminds me of some of the automatic drawing of the Surrealists, but with a distinctly American flavor. His work invites us to let go of our need for fixed meanings, embracing art as a space for exploration and open-ended possibility.