Jean-Paul Riopelle to abstract expressionism), in which he used myriad tumultuous cubes and triangles of multicolored elements, facetted with a palette knife, spatula, or trowel, on often large canvases to create powerful atmospheres. The presence of long filaments of paint in his painting from 1948 through the early 1950s has often been seen as resulting from a dripping technique like that of Jackson Pollock. Rather, the creation of such effects came from the act of throwing, with a palette knife or brush, large quantities of paint onto the stretched canvas (positioned vertically). Riopelle's voluminous impasto became just as important as color. His
The Ghost of a Flea the work is in relatively poor condition, partly due to the technique employed by Blake. Areas of the surface have cracked and dulled with age. Although Blake was singular in his ability to directly transcribe visions onto canvas or paper, a number of visual and literary sources can be detected in this work. The art historian Hope Werness suggested that "The Flea" may be inspired by a 1665 work by early microscopist Robert Hooke (1635–1703), whose "Micrographia" includes a drawing of a flea microscopically observed. Comparisons have been made to Henry Fuseli's monstrous imps, while the image of the flea