- De Kooning along with [[Jackson Pollock]] and [[Mark Rothko]] were the most influential members of the New York School of modern art. They developed a new style of painting called [[Action Painting]]. - De Kooning got rid of the distinction between figure and background and created paintings with multiple and repeated shapes particularly in Excavation. ![[Excavation - De Kooning.png]] - His woman painting was a unique representation of the female form and considered one of the disturbing and anxiety producing images of a woman. In this specific piece De Kooning took advantage of the fact that [[Mating and Fighting Neurons]] often overlap and created a piece that can cause both types of emotions. ![[Woman I - De Kooning.png]] - De Kooning varied the “visual” speed of his brush, thus masterfully leading the eye first at one speed and then another. --- In Excavation de Kooning has multiplied and repeated shapes so that they form a consistent, all-over pattern of texture, abolishing the distinction between figure and ground that we see in Pink Angels. De Kooning gave the synthesis of Cubism and Surrealism a strong American character. - [[Reductionism in Art and Brain Science]] Woman I is considered to this day to be one of the most anxiety-producing and disturbing images of a woman in the history of art. In this painting de Kooning, who was reared by an abusive mother, creates an image that captures the divergent dimensions of the eternal woman: fertility, motherhood, aggressive sexual power, and savagery. - [[Reductionism in Art and Brain Science]]