These notions of Triumph and Taboo, however, are the pronouncements of critics, curators and art historians.
Artists think differently.
The suggestion of forbidden fruit stimulates the taste buds. This was occurring during zeitgeist of the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the Beat Generation. A mind boggling but now refuted notion. Among artists of the next wave there was a sense of lining up the ducks as to who would emerge as the frontrunners of an inevitable reemergence of figurative art. This new work would both incorporate and react to aspects of action painting particularly its loose and aggressive brush stroke, uncorrected drips, pentimenti, and strong palette.