What: "Number 11" by American Jackson Pollock 1949. Duco, aluminum and paint on canvas
Where to find it:IU Art museum, 1133 E Seventh St.
Why you should care: Jackson Pollock's drip paintings have become icons of modern art, in particular, of Abstract Expressionism. Pollock's unconventional working methods provided the basis for his unique gestural style. Using commercial paints, such as Duco (a lacquer-based acrylic paint), Pollock splattered or dripped the unmixed paint on a canvas laid on the floor. Through this drip technique, he was able to create a richly layered web of patterns and colors. Number 11 represents Pollock's rejection of his 1930s social realist training, and his embrace of a formalist, yet spiritually suggestive, approach to painting. In 1948, to emphasize the drip paintings' lack of subject, Pollock began to title them only with numbers and dates.
