Action Painting

Action painting sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical act of painting itself as an essential aspect of the finished work or concern of its artist.

Read more about Action Painting:  Background, Historical Context, Notable Action Painters

Famous quotes containing the words action and/or painting:

    “Rash actions are seldom committed in isolation. With the first rash action we always do too much. So we usually go on to commit a second one—and then we do too little.”
    —Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    “It is not a certain conformity of manners that the painting of Van Gogh attacks, but rather the conformity of institutions themselves. And even external nature, with her climates, her tides, and her equinoctial storms, cannot, after van Gogh’s stay upon earth, maintain the same gravitation.”
    —Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)