Dearq

Dearq | eISSN 2215-969X

From Action Painting to Architecture in Transformation: Picasso, Pollock, Duchamp, and Matta-Clark

No. 44 (2026-01-30)
https://doi.org/10.18389/dearq44.2026.08

Abstract

Between 1949 and 1952, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Marcel Duchamp were photographed, respectively, drawing in the air with a small electric light, painting from all sides of a canvas, and descending a flight of stairs. These photographic records reveal a capacity of expression through bodily movement that corresponds directly to artistic action. In 1977, twenty-five years later, Gordon Matta-Clark was filmed in a large-scale intervention, creating a three-dimensional ladder within which new possibilities of spatial modification could be explored. This review and comparison of these experiments demonstrates how the perception and interaction of body, space, and architecture converged to open new avenues for architectural transformation.

Keywords: action, movement, body, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Marcel Duchamp, Gordon Matta-Clark

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