(My July 12th post mentions this experience. And I wish these photos were in better focus, but Chicago is a bit far to go for a redo.)
Cognitive neuroscientists have come up with the concept of 'fractal fluency' to discuss people's intuitive attraction to fractals. The idea is that we've adapted to easy processing of fractal patterns due to our exposure to these in nature, and further that this 'fluency' puts the viewer in a 'comfort zone,' inducing a pleasant aesthetic experience.
Now there's discussion of 'fractal expressionism' in art, with Pollack as the masthead. Regardless, some friends have reacted to my art with "What is it?" and "Why?" My response (which I wish I'd thought of in the moment) is that I'd like to elicit in the viewer a feeling similar to when you're hiking and suddenly come upon a field of wildflowers: 'Oh! Ahhh!' Maybe there's some underlying connection here between this hope of mine and the neuroscientists' reasoning about people's reactions to Pollack's paintings.
So his paintings didn't just relax me, they inspired me! They shifted something in me! Once home I covered my studio floor with brown paper, bought a variety of paint store colors and some big, cheap canvases. Then I went to town
in my Pollack phase...
...which eventually morphed into my own style.
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