Pollock and fractals

[pwwhitley@zzzzzzz]

Oscar...I also am a fan of Baskin, especially his crows.  In relation to the Pollack, a contemporary of Baskin's comes to mind: Mark Toby and his automatic writing.  Toby's paintings are far more cerebral, more controlled than Pollacks.  I confess, I prefer the energy and spontaneity of Pollack.

A few years ago I rashly purchased a small bronze by Henry Moore.  It was a beautiful maquette of monumental figurative form.  After emailing a photo to the Henry Moore Foundation I was informed that Moore had made my sculpture in two sizes, neither were consistent with my version.  They also stated that this particular sculpture was one of the most forged of the artist's works.

The price I paid was, for a Moore, a bargain and the piece was competently cast in good metal and expertly patinated...professionally mounted on black marble.  But is was a forgery and I received a full refund.  I still miss it, however, and almost wish I had kept it.

I think for works of this type, i.e., casts which could be produced as multiples, it would be almost impossible to detect fraud using the fractal test.  This is especially true if the image is a copy of a known original.  If my purchase had been the correct dimensions verification would have been far more difficult...and expensive.

Philip