Autumn Poles

Hito Steyerl observes that the poor image “embodies the afterlife of many former masterpieces of cinema and video art” allowing it give new meaning and new perspective as new markers in cultural time and history.

Autumn Poles plays on this contradiction and shows the generative nature of art, displaying simultaneously two different artistic fragments. Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) 1950 bleeds through condensed droplets on a glass pane with 5 blue poles taken from his later work Blue Poles 1952.

The work intentionally shows the ambiguity of meaning; while suggesting the poles could act almost as windshield wipers suspended in time. I intentionally chose not to animate the wipers for reasons of scale and proportion and that they would have distracted from the droplets themselves.

Citations:

Steyerl H (2009) In defense of the poor image. Available at: www.e-flux.com/journal/10/61362/indefense-of-the-poor-image/ (accessed 23 October 2017)