Griselda Pollock; 'Cockfights and Other Parades'

A reading of Cliffore Geerrtz's 'Deep Play on a Balinese Cockfight'. This article uses the cockfight as a metaphor and vehicle to explain what happens in the viewing process of looking at art works. Deep Play consists of the a situation where the stakes are the most evenly matched, if the cocks are of the same standard then the fight can go either way, the stakes are the highest. The point in this article, taken from Geertz is that the real fight takes place between the owners of the cocks and then filters down through the various ranks in the audience. Death ,gambling, politics, sex/gender etc.

The juncture here is examined through the work of Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, and their relationship. We see it projected on to their work, the cocks, but the real 'fight' takes place between them ona personal intimate level, their relationship was based on deep play. The authors argument is that acknowledgement of the realationship between the two artists calls for analysis of both their artistic practices. Without the acknowledgment of both the cocks in the ring the fight cannot happen therefore the cultural interplay which exists is not available for analysis, effectively eliminating both cocks.