mark rothko chose a path to pure expression by using only gradations of color on his canvases. pollock's vision and greenberg'sheory were explored by a second generation. many acknowledged that helen frankenthaler adapted pollock's technique in a way that made him more accessible to other artists. she stained her canvas with highly diluted paint to achieve these haunting effects in mountains and sea. the abstract expressionist movement dominated the world of western art for over a decade. by the mid fifties, they were established, only to be superseded by a new avant-garde. the postwar world is characterized by an acceleration of speed-- speed of travel, of information, of communication, indeed, speed of change itself. a style which in the middle ages or the renaissance took decades to work itself out could now run its course in a year or less. in such a culture, saturated with objects, with advertising, packaging, and tv, it was inevitable that art itself should not merely reflect this, but become the object. if the content mattered so little in comparison with the packaging, then why not use a coke bottle or