What’s your ‘fractal quotient’?

Musing out loud. Part 1 of a long ramble.

How fractalicious is your art? Has it got that ‘fractal recognition factor’? Do other fractal artists recognise it as a fractal? Has it got swirls and/or spirals, do the shapes repeat? Even if it’s a representation of a real-world object, does it still have that ‘fractal factor’ (like the beautiful flowers adorning this page)? Is there a good chance that the average Joe or Jane – who knows nothing about UltraFractal or Apophysis or any of the other programs which can be used – will recognise something about it that’s different?

Ah, but different to what, you’re asking. (Aren’t you?!?) Different to other types of art, whether that’s oil painting or photography or vector work or digital painting. Different because of those spirals and repetitions, because of those often complex & intricate forms that the fractal formulae can produce.

I firmly believe that there is something intrinsic in human nature that responds to spirals and geometric patterns: think about Celtic knotwork, about Moorish geometric designs, about the spiral designs carved on NewGrange, about the paisley pattern, decorative art in ancient Greece and so on. It was certainly the fractal nature of those first artworks I saw made in Apo and UF that caught my eye and intrigued me (and came to obsess me, but that’s another story!).

So my ‘fractal quotient’, using my own measure, is pretty high. Yet I still hanker to produce work that is more abstract, less recognisable as fractal. I may be fighting a losing battle with myself because I seem to unable to resist patterns, but we’ll see ……