Jane is a dancer and she will help us to understand about expressive movement. I showed her a clip of Jackson Pollack painting and told her to move as he did, concentrating on how the paint made a design on the ground.
Action painting leaves a mark or stroke that traces the physical move of the artist’s body. The kinetic line of color results from the kinetic body movement. The drip painting is not random because all movement obeys a law.
Next I instructed Jane to dance and just dance, disregarding how her movements affected the painting below her. You can see the difference in both her movement and the art below her. The difference between a dance-like motion and a dance itself.
Movement is part of our visual language, a part as important as depth or color or light.
In terms of the mechanics of human perception movement is displacement against a frame of reference. But in terms of expression what does her dance mean? I can watch and interpret it. I can admire her grace and artistic choices. I can feel emotion, empathy. Maybe deep in my nerves there is even kinetic empathy. This is where the expression of movement in dance meets the brush stroke of action painting. Something kinetic and amazing took place. It fills us with energy. It is expression and it is open to interpretation.
