A method of painting that originated in the USA during the 1940s, action painting is associated with a wider artists movement called abstract expressionism. Artists producing action painting intended their works to be a record of the act of painting itself, to the exclusion of all other subject matter. The painting are often extremely vibrant, conveying the spontaneity and impulsiveness of their creation. This is best exemplified in the work of jackson Pollock, whose painting clearly show the energetic gestures of the artist, who splashed, dripped, flicked, and threw paint on the canvas.
