BILL EVANS
JAZZ AND ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
Jazz and Abstract Expressionism occurred contemporaneously in the early to middle of the 20th Century. Both were brand new emerging movements of modern art which blossomed to keep up intellectually with the ever rapidly changing and evolving fields of science and intellectual thought. One common thread between Abstract Expressionism and Jazz is he reliance on a non-structure: a process of impulsivity and spontaneity.
Spontaneity and a seeming lack of structure aided Jazz and Abstract
expressionism in a quest for letting art explore the subconscious. This would require, during the process of making art, letting go of a conscious or planned effort and letting passion and intuition take over as your mind and body and let that lead you to places that could not be discovered deliberately.
This interest in the subconscious emerged after the popularity of
psychoanalyses and the rising tide of psychotherapy. Freud, the father of this field of study, began his authorship half a century before these two movements took off. He believed the subconscious was the primary
source of human behavior.
“I’m very representational some of the time, and a little all of the time. But when you’re painting out of your unconscious, figures are bound to emerge.” — Jackson Pollock
