Born in Glasgow in 1937, Pollock studied at the Glasgow School of Art before moving to London, showing at the influential Stockwell Depot in the 1970s. His work was included in ‘British Painting 1952-77’ at the Royal Academy in 1977, and in the 1980s he began a series of solo shows at the Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London. In 1980 he was included at the Hayward Annual, and in 1982, a Serpentine Gallery Summer Show. His work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Arts Council and the Scottish Arts Council. His painting is characterised by wonderfully expressive brushwork and use of colour.
Commenting on his own painting, Pollock notes: "There’s an endless variety of colours, so you are always finding something that’s new in painting, you’re searching for something that’s new and something that’s truthful to yourself mainly. Every day is completely different and I never really know what I’ve been up to until I go into the studio first thing in the morning and I see what I’ve been up to the day or week before."
Sarah Kent, writing in Time Out, noted that “The intelligent sensuality of Fred Pollock’s paintings is a joy.” This intelligence reveals itself through repeated viewings of groups of Fred’s works. A viewer will start to notice that the application of colour, and the forms in which it is employed, are not as random as one might initially think. Certain forms will reoccur, whether consciously or unconsciously, in his paintings. With every viewing of each new work, the viewer will feel like they are unlocking something more of the puzzle. This slow reveal is what lends Pollock’s works their gravitas, and it is a quality that was not lost on another of his admirers, Sir Anthony Caro, who wrote:
"These paintings with their obsessional use of stacked colours keep freshness and spontaneity, concentrated preoccupation with colour and colour relationships is what they are about. Necessity such as this grants staying power to pictures and these pictures don’t only look good on first acquaintance they stay good."