‘I am Nature’: Science and Jackson Pollock

An attempt has been made to determine the authenticity of some newly discovered paintings that may be by Jackson Pollock on the basis of a belief that his art incorporates fractal patterns seen in the natural world. This is only the latest in a long line of interpretations of his works in terms of references to nature, as Michael Schreyach discusses

Application and manipulation: the abstract painting of Gerhard Richter (1988-93)

1994 Spring.Includes bibliographic references (page 42)

Wandering intellect, intuition and chance in architecture

Improvisation is the art of fabrication with what is at hand. It fosters spontaneous decisions, but it is not random. It becomes a spiritual wandering of intuitive, intellectual, and chance components. Improvisation happens in the process of making art and architecture, and is experienced by wandering through the process using rational, intuitive, and chance components. This phenomenon is expressed in architecture, Abstract Expressionism, and jazz improvisation. These art forms are a synthesis of intellect, intuition, and chance based on culture, environment and memory, which reconstruct our place in the world. Heidegger and Piaget provide the philosophical foundation for this argument. Architecture engages these issues and is a vivid reflection and expression of our environment. The art forms of jazz improvisation and abstract expressionism also exhibit aspects of wandering and gathering. Classical and Avant-Garde literary sources will be used in support of wandering through the intellect by intuition and chance. Through wandering, such as Odysseus in Homer's epic, one's place in in the world is found

Evaluating the Historical Accuracy of Blackwork Embroidery with Fractal Analysis

The intricate monochromatic embroidery that graced the collars and cuffs of Renaissance nobility and domestic materials from that era has been little studied beyond the historical costuming and crafting communities. This style, known as blackwork, for it was traditionally done in black silk on white linen, exemplifies how complex and visually-appealing designs can arise from repetition of simple forms, often demonstrating the fractal property of self-similarity. Though most blackwork patterns are not true fractals, fractal analysis offers a means of objectively quantifying their complexity and new lens through which to examine this embroidery technique. The purpose of this study was to look for trends that could be used to evaluate the historical accuracy of blackwork patterns. Images of historical patterns from the Renaissance period, historically-inspired, and modern patterns were gathered from eight published books on blackwork. The fractal dimensions of these patterns were calculated using FracLac, a fractal analysis plugin for the ImageJ software. Subsequent statistical analyses revealed several significant differences between the fractal dimensions of patterns for fillings, borders, and complete projects. Though there was some variation, a trend noted was that Renaissance-era patterns had a fractal dimension around 1.75

Beyond picturing

Beyond Picturing is practice led research aimed at determining whether horizontality can be deemed a medium in its own right, and further, whether it can establish a new set of conventions, enabling a cross-cultural dialogue between peoples of our region, particularly Aboriginal people and Maori and those of European heritage. I chart the course of horizontality across the art of the 20th century, identifying it as a medium for practice. My thesis examines examples in which horizontality as a methodology was a vehicle for meaning, based on the theories of structural linguistics and phenomenology. Furthermore, by acknowledging the axial shift, from the horizontal plane of process to the vertical plane of image, I discover a shared ground for cultural dialogue with painters of the central desert and the Kimberley