Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?
“Everybody knows that a fairytale starts out Once upon a time. But a truck driver’s tale starts out: you ain’t gonna believe this shit!”
Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock? is a delightful little documentary that reveals the pompous nature of the art world and the arbitrary parametres used to price artwork and construct value.
Trucker Teri Horton buys a painting at a thrift shop for $5 and someone soon suggests that it might be a Jackson Pollock, inviting the question: “Who the #$&% is Jackson pollock?” Pollock is America’s most prized painter (often referred to as the American Picasso), an Abstract Expressionist known for his drip paintings and most famously Blue Poles (seen below), whose works sell for upwards of 100 million dollars. On her journey to appraise and unload the painting for some money Terri is ridiculed by so-called art experts who tell her she has no place in the conversation about what a piece of “real” art is worth, and she learns of such (sometimes arbitrary or falsified) paper-trails known as provenance that are used to determine a (famous) art work’s authenticity and validity within the financial market. Sharp and pithy, she quickly makes the battle a matter of principal, enlisting art historians, art dealers and even forensic specialists to weigh-in on the subject and show the art world they are just as foolish as they claim she is, not to mention arrogant and condescending! Her down to earth realness and refusal to be silenced by those running the world of high art make her the perfect person to ask the real questions that unravel the complex web of so-called facts that give the Museum Industrial Complex its power.
This movie is hilarious, revealing and insightful and should be required viewing for arts and arts management students everywhere, but was made for the enjoyment of everyone outside the art world in mind. Have a good laugh at the art world’s expense!
These 5 docs offer a great overview of many key concepts of media literacy. Use them to spark debate or inspire a media project in the classroom!