Kate Jones-Smith's guest appearances

Kate Jones-Smith

Data Skeptic

Jeff Stanton

Jackson Pollock

Randy Olson

Karl Mamer

Susan Gerbic

Peter Backus

Jay Shankar

Zach Seeskin

Nathan Janos

Niki Athanasiadou

Marick Sinay

Thomas Levi

Sharon Hill

Eugene Goostman

Louis Zocchi

OwlTail

Our guest this week is Hamilton physics professor Kate Jones-Smith who joins us to discuss the evidence for the claim that drip paintings of Jackson Pollock contain fractal patterns. This hypothesis originates in a paper by Taylor, Micolich, and Jonas titled Fractal analysis of Pollock's drip paintings which appeared in Nature.   Kate and co-author Harsh Mathur wrote a paper titled Revisiting Pollock's Drip Paintings which also appeared in Nature. A full text PDF can be found here, but lacks the helpful figures which can be found here, although two images are blurred behind a paywall.   Their paper was covered in the New York Times as well as in USA Today (albeit with with a much more delightful headline: Never mind the Pollock's [sic]).    While discussing the intersection of science and art, the conversation also touched briefly on a few other intersting topics. For example, Penrose Tiles appearing in islamic art (pre-dating Roger Penrose's investigation of the interesting properties of these tiling processes), Quasicrystal designs in art, Automated brushstroke analysis of the works of Vincent van Gogh, and attempts to authenticate a possible work of Leonardo Da Vinci of uncertain provenance. Last but not least, the conversation touches on the particularly compellingHockney-Falco Thesis which is also covered in David Hockney's book Secret Knowledge.   For those interested in reading some of Kate's other publications, many Katherine Jones-Smith articles can be found at the given link, all of which have downloadable PDFs.

<p>Our guest this week is <a href="http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/departments/Faculty?dept=Physics" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hamilton physics professor Kate Jones-Smith</a> who joins us to discuss the evidence for the claim that drip paintings of Jackson Pollock contain fractal patterns. This hypothesis originates in a paper by Taylor, Micolich, and Jonas titled <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v399/n6735/full/399422a0.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fractal analysis of Pollock's drip paintings</a> which appeared in Nature.   Kate and co-author <a href="http://www.phys.cwru.edu/faculty/?mathur" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harsh Mathur</a> wrote a paper titled <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7119/full/nature05398.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Revisiting Pollock's Drip Paintings</a> which also appeared in Nature. A full text PDF can be found <a href="http://arxiv.org/pdf/0909.0084v1.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>, but lacks the helpful figures which can be found <a href="http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1038/nature05398" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>, although two images are blurred behind a paywall.   Their paper was covered in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/02/books/02frac.html?_r=0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">New York Times</a> as well as in USA Today (albeit with with a much more delightful headline: <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2006-12-03-pollock-fractals_x.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Never mind the Pollock's</a> [sic]).    While discussing the intersection of science and art, the conversation also touched briefly on a few other intersting topics. For example, <a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-islamic-penrose-tiles-0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Penrose Tiles appearing in islamic art</a> (pre-dating Roger Penrose's investigation of the interesting properties of these tiling processes), <a href="http://wwwphy.princeton.edu/~steinh/quasicrystals.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Quasicrystal designs in art</a>, <a href="http://www.computer.org/csdl/trans/tp/2012/06/ttp2012061159-abs.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Automated brushstroke analysis of the works of Vincent van Gogh</a>, and attempts to <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/07/12/the-mark-of-a-masterpiece" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">authenticate a possible work of Leonardo Da Vinci</a> of uncertain provenance. Last but not least, the conversation touches on the particularly compelling<a href="http://fp.optics.arizona.edu/SSD/art-optics/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hockney-Falco Thesis</a> which is also covered in David Hockney's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Knowledge-Expanded-Edition-Rediscovering/dp/0142005126/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=undefined&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Hockney" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Secret Knowledge</a>.   For those interested in reading some of Kate's other publications, many <a href="http://arxiv.org/a/jonessmith_k_1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Katherine Jones-Smith articles</a> can be found at the given link, all of which have downloadable PDFs.</p>

Jackson Pollock Authentication Analysis with Kate Jones-Smith