"pollock... left us at the point where we must become preoccupied with and even dazzled by the space and objects of our everyday life, either our bodies, clothes, rooms, or, if need be, the vastness of 42nd street. not satisfied with the suggestion through paint of our other senses, we shall utilize the specific substances of sign, sound, movements, people, odors, touch. objects of every sort are materials for the new art: paint, chairs, food, electric and neon lights, smoke, water, old socks, a dog, movies, a thousand other things that will be discovered by the present generation of artists. not only will these bold creators show us, as if for the first time, the world we have always had around us but ignored, but they will disclose entirely unheard of happenings and events, found in garbage cans, police files, hotel lobbies; seen in store windows and on the streets; and sensed in dreams and horrible accidents. an odor of crushed strawberries, a letter from a friend, or a billboard selling drano; three taps on the front door, a scratch, a sigh, or a voice lecturing endlessly, a blinding staccato flash, a bowler hat - all will become materials for this new concrete art. young artists of today need no longer say, “i am a painter," or "a poet" or "a dancer.” they are simply artists. all of life will be open to them. they will discover out of ordinary things the meaning of ordinariness. they will not try to make them extraordinary but will only state their real meaning. but out of nothing they will devise the extraordinary and then maybe nothingness as well.
-allan kaprow's essay "the legacy of jackson pollock" (1958)
