Jackson Pollock was one of the most influencial American aritsts during the abstract expressionists movement, and the modern art movement. He used liquid painting, and used methods of pouring paint. Pollock worked on his paintings by laying them out on the floor, so that he could walk around the large canvases on all four sides. Jackson Pollock observed Indian Sand painting, and was later influenced by Janet Sobel, the Ukrainian artist. 

 

    "My painting does not come from the easel. I prefer to tack the unstretched canvas to the hard wall or the floor. I need the resistance of a hard surface. On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting.

     I continue to get further away from the usual painter's tools such as easel, palette, brushes, etc. I prefer sticks, trowels, knives and dripping fluid paint or a heavy impasto with sand, broken glass or other foreign matter added.

    When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well."

—Jackson Pollock, My Painting, 1956