Fractal Fingerprints

Taylor went further and tried to put a number on the complexity. He reported that authentic Pollocks tended to sit in a particular fractal range — busy, but not overwhelming — close to the level we find pleasant in natural scenery.

It is a tempting idea, and it made headlines. But it is not settled science. Other researchers have questioned the method, so treat the exact numbers as a debated claim, not a verdict.

Strip away the debate over exact numbers and one point still holds: complex is not the same as random.

A roll of dice is random — no structure, no pattern. A Pollock is complex — dense and intricate, yet organized by the steady motion of a trained body. The lesson reaches past art: much of what looks like noise in the world turns out, on closer inspection, to be order we hadn't learned to see yet.