Artist Transforms Action Films Into Action Paintings [Videos]

At long last, Hollywood blockbusters even art snobs can get behind.

Here at Co.Design, we love modern art. We also love schlocky action movies (don’t hate). Let’s combine the two, shall we?

Canadian software artist Jeremy Rotsztain takes scenes and sounds from action films--explosions! car chases! shootouts!--and transforms them into abstract-expressionist animations that wouldn’t look out of place on the walls of MoMA. So they’re action paintings, as in they resemble the stuff Jackson Pollock tossed off. But they’re also action paintings, as in they’re made out of action flicks. Rotsztain calls them--wait for it--action paintings.

We think it’s brilliant and not just because this is as close as we’ll get to watching French Connection on the clock. Armchair critics love to rag on the mindlessness of Hollywood’s testosterone-fueled blockbusters. Abstract Expressionism, on the other hand, is dignified, thoughtful, important. But when you get down to it, the AbEx guys had all the subtlety of cock rockers. Just look to Franz Kline’s violent black brushstrokes and Pollock’s aggressively frenetic splatters. They’re practically Rambo on canvas. By mixing the two art forms (yes, action flicks are an art form), Rotsztain reveals the arbitrary distinction between high and low art. It’s okay to love Pollock and Stallone.