Mike Bidlo - Contemporary Art Part II New York Friday, May 13, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Acquired directly from the artist

  • Catalogue Essay

    ROBERT ROSENBLUM And how did you learn to paint like Pollock?

    MIKE BIDLO It's not as easy as it seems. I practiced a lot after seeing the Namuth film. I also tracked down as many actual Pollocks as I could find so that I could closely examine how they were made. In trying to replicate his gesture, I discovered his line is a kind of cursive penmanship that could be learned like the Palmer method. After a year of trial and error, I learned to control viscosity, layering, and the different ways paint hits and is absorbed into the surface of the canvas.

    I think everyone brings their own signature and personality into their work, even if they're making replicas. I've always seen it as wedges of a pie that fit together in a general reaction to the times. My work is perhaps an extreme example of this strain of art which references other art because it directly mirrors the image, scale, and materials of the original. Whatever differences appear in my work are a consequence of my working method and not an attempt at projecting a personal style.

    ("Conversation between Mike Bidlo and Robert Rosenblum," ARTFORUM, April 2003)

193

This is Not a Pollock

1985-1987
Acrylic on canvas.
93 3/4 x 156 in. (238.1 x 396.2 cm).

Estimate
$60,000 - 80,000 

Sold for $80,500

Contemporary Art Part II

13 May 2011
New York