Jackson Pollock - Artistic Physicist?

I came a cross a good article that suggests that Jackson Pollock, one of the first and most influential artists in abstract painting, may have had an intuitive sense for the physical and mathematical sciences that shows up in his works.

Pollock chose the type of paints that he used very carefully, seeking specific desired effects, textures, and colors. The researchers studying his paintings believe that his paint drippings exhibit certain properties of fluid dynamics that he might have been only subconsciously aware of, such as what is called a "coiling" effect on viscous liquids (thick slow moving liquids like honey, or thick paints).

This video demostrates the coiling phenomenon on a viscous liquid being poured slowly onto a moving belt. The zig-zags you see it start to make arent because the pouring container is moving, it is stationary, it starts doing this because the belt starts moving slower. So if Pollock slowly dripped a thick, viscous paint, it would land in a way that creates seemingly random patterns.

This makes sense, as Pollocks works are a kind of controlled chaos, seeming to be simultaneously random and yet also carefully and intricately designed. The researchers studying his paintings also suggest that his compositions show similarities to fractal geometry, which our minds see as pleasant as it is evident in the beauty of nature, such as clouds, snowflakes, mountains, and plant life.

For more of Jackson Pollock's works, click here.