Dan Colen

Dan Colen: Confetti Paintings

The process used to make the confetti works is akin to that employed by Jackson Pollock when creating his legendary ‘Action Paintings,’ in which paint was applied to canvas through energetic gestures rather than with exactingly deliberate intent. With the canvas laid upon a flat surface, Colen throws handfuls of confetti downwards, allowing the material to coalesce and form patterns in a totally arbitrary manner: the resulting intricacy of pattern, colour and texture recalls not only the work of Pollock but also of other Abstract Expressionist artists such as Joan Mitchell.1

Mr. Colen uses it [confetti] in pieces that explore the role of chance in making art. By throwing it onto canvases and seeing where it lands, Mr. Colen said, he “eliminates having to make decisions.” And though he also uses paint to make canvases that only look like they’ve been strewn with confetti, he bases those on photographs that he takes of the real thing, “recording a frozen moment that avoids invention,” he said.2

1. 1  http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/contemporary-art-evening-auction-l14020/lot.56.html
2. 2  https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/arts/design/10colen.html