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"Pollock's Fractals," Jennifer Ouellette. Discover, November 2001.
Physicist and art historian Richard Taylor's research shows that Jackson Pollock's drip paintings of 1943 to 1952 reveal creations of repeating patterns at different size scales---"just like fractals." Taylor concludes that "the fractal dimensions of Pollock's earlier drip paintings correspond closely to those found in nature". He cites Number 14 (1948) and Blue Poles (one of Pollock's last drip paintings, now worth over US$30 million) in particular, as works with high fractal dimensions. Taylor's research consisted of high-resolution photography (used to scan and divide the images to study patterns) and perceptual psychology (in which human subjects evaluated natural, computer-generated, and man-made fractal patterns). The patterns in Pollock's works were found to have high fractal dimensions and consistently high appeal. In addition, Taylor claims that he can identify genuine Pollock drip paintings by their unique quality: he even claims "he can date any Pollock canvas to within a year by analyzing its fractal dimension."
--- Annette Emerson
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