Jackson Pollack's Fractals

I ran across the concept of the 'coastline paradox' (previous post) in an autobiography by Benoit Mandelbrot, or maybe in James Gleick's fun book Chaos: The Making of a Theory.  Wandering around in the land of fractals, there's no telling what you'll find.  It turns out Jackson Pollack's paintings are so full of fractal patterns that the experts can distinguish his from fakes 93% of the time by comparing these patterns.  Furthermore, Pollack's paintings have a similar effect on the brain's relaxation response to viewing fractals in art and in nature.  So I wonder if THAT is why his Greyed Rainbow hit me so powerfully when I walked into the modern wing of The Art Institute of Chicago.  
(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.  

But my response wasn't only about pattern.  I think the dynamism captured me in some sort of vicarious kinesthesia.  I could feel Pollack's movement, sense the freedom of his large gestures as he moved on foot around the canvas on his floor.  

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.