"What is abstract art good for?"

[aest...@hotmail.com]

http://www.observer.com/20061204/20061204_Mario_Naves_culture_currentlyhanging.asp

[Mani Deli]

Wall covering (especially large walls in cheap architecture)and
advancement in academe if you teach boiler plate art history.

[sir_haxalot]

That reminds me of those joke questions on the back of laffy taffy
wrappers:
Q: What is abstract art good for?
A: Potato.

[Mani Deli]

This article is an abstract. Complete article can be found on Science
Daily---

Can mathematics explain the art of Jackson Pollock? Can it be used to
authenticate paintings of uncertain provenance?

In articles that appeared in scientific journals and news magazines
including Nature, Physics World and Scientific American, Taylor and
coworkers also claim that fractal analysis can be used to distinguish
Pollock's drip paintings from imitations.

Intrigued, Jones-Smith began to examine Taylor's articles, but quickly
found that the work was seriously flawed She showed that doodles that
she could make in minutes using Adobe Photoshop were as fractal as any
Pollock drip painting, vividly refuting Taylor's claim that Pollock
was able to generate fractals by hand only because he had attained a
mastery of chaotic motion.

A key element of the paper is a painting called Untitled 5 that
Jones-Smith created in a matter of minutes in Photoshop. Untitled 5
depicts a field of stars and looks like the kind of drawing the proud
mother of a three-year old might stick on a refrigerator door, says
Jones-Smith. But, according to the fractal authentication criteria
that Taylor has made public, it is an authentic Pollock.

A defining feature of fractals is their self-similarity: In their
Nature article, Jones-Smith and Mathur show that Pollock's works lack
the range of scales needed to be considered fractal .

The researchers show that considering Pollock's paintings to be
fractal actually leads to mathematical contradictions and
inconsistencies. "Not only does Taylor state Pollock's paintings are
fractal," said Jones-Smith, "but he goes further and says such things
as this is why Pollock is such a master-that he had mastered the
language of nature."

The Case researchers' findings, particularly their painting Untitled
5, do not support this contention. Jones-Smith and Mathur also note
that Taylor has analyzed only 17 out of more than 180 drip paintings
made by Pollock. Aside from the other problems with his analysis, the
Case physicists contend that 17 paintings are too small a sample to
provide an adequate basis for some of Taylor's inferences.

Irrespective of whatever determination is ultimately made on the
authenticity of the recently found Matter paintings, fractal analysis
should not be considered a foolproof technique for authenticating
works by Pollock.