Feel-good fractals: from ocean waves to Jackson Pollock’s art

Florence Williams | Aeon | 13th January 2017

What explains the mesmerizing effect of Pollock’s drip paintings? A physicist (and amateur photographer) has found that these works contain repeating (fractal) patterns. Further, the ratio of big features to fine details in Pollock’s work falls exactly into a psychologically “preferred” range. What this may mean for “fractal free” art – minimalism, Rothko, pop, and more – will presumably be explained to us in due course.