Big Bird and Baby Bear taking in a Pollock painting.
Don't Eat the Pictures
Oscar and his look alike painting by Trashcan Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) was an American painter in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, he enjoyed fame and notoriety, yet was a reclusive artist. After his death at age 44, the Museum of Modern Art has featured retrospectives of his career over various periods of time.
References
- Baby Animal becomes inspired by Pollock's 1950 piece No. 15 in the Muppet Babies episode "The Muppet Museum of Art". Baby Kermit and Baby Piggy see it as a mess they have to clean up, replacing it with paintings by Joan Miró and Piet Mondrian.
- The opening credits sequence of Don't Eat the Pictures features Pollock's Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) as enjoyed by Met Museum patrons Big Bird, David, Bert, Bob, Linda, Olivia, Oscar the Grouch, Susan, Gordon, and some kids.
- On Sesame Street, Big Bird and Baby Bear discuss "One: Number 31, 1950" at the Museum of Modern Art in Episode 3631.
- Bruce McNally contributed a Pollock-inspired entry to the Grouch Art Museum in the April 2001 issue of Sesame Street Magazine.
- In a Global Grover segment on Bangladesh, Grover tries to coax a penguin to help him paint when he accidentally imprints himself on his canvas, creating a painted silhouette. Impressed with the results, Grover says "Jackson Pollock, eat your heart out!"
- The 2014 Toyota commercial "Saffron, Cayenne Pepper and the Road Home" featured a Pollock painting in the back of a Toyota Highlander which Pepe was using as a living room.
- In a spoof of the Google Art Project trend, where users can find a work of art that looks like them via an app, Oscar the Grouch matched with a painting by "Trashcan Pollock."
- A critic at Zoot's gallery exhibition of photos, in The Muppets Mayhem episode "We Will Rock You," is named in the credits as "Jackson Cannery." It's a pun since pollock is a canned fish.
Gallery
No. 15 inspires...
...Baby Animal's artwork
Sesame Street Magazine April 2001
Baby Animal as Pollock on Disney Junior Music: Ready for Preschool's "At the Art Museum"
A Pollock painting in the background from the same music video