In the 1980s, architects found that patients recovered more quickly from surgery when given hospital rooms with windows looking out on nature. The impact of nature’s aesthetics is surprisingly powerful. Pollock’s ability to express nature’s fractal aesthetics helps explain the enduring popularity of his work. Since then, more than 10 different groups have performed various forms of fractal analysis on his paintings. In 1999, my group used computer pattern analysis techniques to show that Pollock’s paintings are as fractal as patterns found in natural scenery. Other examples of nature’s fractals include clouds, rivers, coastlines and mountains. As you keep zooming in, finer and finer branches appear, all the way down to the smallest twigs. Then you see smaller versions growing out of each big branch. First you see the big branches growing out of the trunk. My scientific curiosity was stirred when I learned that many of nature’s objects are fractal, featuring patterns that repeat at increasingly fine magnifications. Although battles raged among Pollock scholars regarding the meaning of his splattered patterns, many agreed they had an organic, natural feel to them. My research group took this approach with Jackson Pollock, who rose to the peak of modern art in the late 1940s by pouring paint directly from a can onto horizontal canvases laid across his studio floor. When it comes to aesthetics, who better to study than famous artists? They are, after all, the visual experts. Researchers are untangling just what makes particular works of art or natural scenes visually appealing and stress-relieving – and one crucial factor is the presence of the repetitive patterns called fractals.Īre fractals the key to why Pollock’s work captivates?ĪP Photo/LM Otero Pleasing patterns, in art and in nature Job stress alone is estimated to cost American businesses many billions of dollars annually, so studying aesthetics holds a huge potential benefit to society. We’re finding that aesthetic images can induce staggering changes to the body, including radical reductions in the observer’s stress levels. Although aesthetics is often regarded as an ill-defined vague quality, research groups like mine are using sophisticated techniques to quantify it – and its impact on the observer. Even the oldest known examples of rock and cave art served aesthetic rather than utilitarian roles. Objects we call “beautiful” or “aesthetic” are a crucial part of our humanity. Seven or more levels of branching can be counted in this image.Humans are visual creatures. Credit: David Clapp / Getty In many trees, such as this sycamore, a central trunk forks into two or more branches which themselves fork again and again into thinner and thinner branches before finally terminating in tiny twigs. Credit: Fuhito Kanayama / Getty Braided glacial river channels in the southern Alps of New Zealand show large and small scale branching and recombination. The self-similar conical protrusions are composed of spiral on spiral of tiny buds. Credit: Photo Researchers / Getty Known as Romanesco cauliflower, Romanesco broccoli or even brocciflower, this relative of more common brassicas has a strikingly fractal appearance. Credit: Ian Cuming / Getty This image produced by high-voltage electricity discharging through a non-conductive material, known as a Lichtenberg figure, shows repetitive self-similar branching characteristic of a fractal. The central hexagon sprouts six more rough hexagons, and the outer corners of those produce still more hexagonal outgrowths. Credit: Paul Oomen / Getty The six-fold symmetry of this snowflake, due to the microscopic crystal structure of ice, is repeated several times. The circulatory system of animals is similar. The network of veins that move fluids around inside a leaf shows clear fractal structure.
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