American, 1912-1956. American artist, Jackson Pollock, who arrived in Los Angeles as a student in 1930, was introduced to Surrealism under his close mentorship with a regionalist painter, Thomas Hart Benton. Popularly known as "drip paintings", his works of Abstract Expressionism were created by pouring and splashing liquidized paint on a horizontal canvas that let gravity and the nature of the material create intricate forms and patterns. The experimental Gutai Group formed in Japan in the mid-1950s called his work "pure creative" and used it for self-encouragement. Autumn Rhythm, Number Thirty-two, and Lavender Mist are a few of his iconic paintings known to exemplify the visual grandeur of his poured strokes. Following his demise, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) honored his work at a memorial retrospective exhibition.