Robin Cembalest writes about Jackson Pollock's little-known sculptures from 1956, on view in the exhibition Jackson Pollock & Tony Smith: Sculpture at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, through October 27, 2012.

Cembalest writes that "the lowly status of Pollock’s object-making has its roots in the artist’s own day, when painting was considered the pinnacle of Abstract Expressionism—and sculpture, as Ad Reinhardt famously put it, was 'something you back into when you look at a painting.' It didn’t help that Pollock’s sculptures hardly resemble his drip classics. The humble objects don’t scream 'Pollock,' or action, never mind painting. Most of his extant sculptures, under a dozen, don’t even resemble each other. And their hands-on quality—hammered copper, hand-built clay—contradicts the popular image of Pollock conjuring his abstractions in a rhythmic ritual dance."