Siquieros accidental painting technique: a uid mechanics point of view (original) (raw)
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Siquieros accidental painting technique: a fluid mechanics point of view
2012
This is an entry for the Gallery of Fluid Motion of the 65st Annual Meeting of the APS-DFD ( fluid dynamics video ). This video shows an analysis of the 'accidental painting' technique developed by D.A. Siqueiros, a famous Mexican muralist. We reproduced the technique that he used: pouring layers of paint of different colors on top of each other. We found that the layers mix, creating aesthetically pleasing patterns, as a result of a Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Due to the pigments used to give paints their color, they can have different densities. When poured on top of each other, if the top layer is denser than the lower one, the viscous gravity current undergoes unstable as it spread radially. We photograph the process and produced slowed-down video to visualize the process.
A Hydrodynamic Instability Is Used to Create Aesthetically Appealing Patterns in Painting
PLOS ONE, 2015
Painters often acquire a deep empirical knowledge of the way in which paints and inks behave. Through experimentation and practice, they can control the way in which fluids move and deform to create textures and images. David Alfaro Siqueiros, a recognized Mexican muralist, invented an accidental painting technique to create new and unexpected textures. By pouring layers of paint of different colors on a horizontal surface, the paints infiltrate into each other creating patterns of aesthetic value. In this investigation, we reproduce the technique in a controlled manner. We found that for the correct color combination, the dual viscous layer becomes Rayleigh-Taylor unstable: the density mismatch of the two color paints drives the formation of a spotted pattern. Experiments and a linear instability analysis were conducted to understand the properties of the process. We also argue that this flow configuration can be used to study the linear properties of this instability. Fig 7. Correlation length as a function of time. The horizontal dashed line shows the average of the measurement, L c , for 230 < t < 300s. This measurements correspond to the images shown in Fig 5.
Pollock avoided hydrodynamic instabilities to paint with his dripping technique
PLOS ONE
Jackson Pollock's most celebrated abstract paintings were produced with the so-called dripping technique. By pouring liquid paint with the help of a stick or from a can, Pollock deposited viscous fluid filaments on a horizontal canvas, rhythmically moving around it. The intricate webs of lines, ubiquitous in his compositions, have fascinated art historians and scientists. Based on image analysis of historical video recordings, we experimentally reproduced the painting process. We conclude that Pollock avoided the appearance of the hydrodynamic instabilities, contrary to what was argued by previous studies. Pollock selected the physical properties of the paint to prevent filament fragmentation before deposition, and applied it while moving his hand sufficiently fast and at certain heights to avoid fluid filaments from coiling into themselves. An understanding of the physical conditions at which these patterns were created is important to further art research and it can be used as a tool in the authentication of paintings.
Splash Dynamics of Paint on Dry, Wet, and Cooled Surfaces
Fluids, 2016
In his classic study in 1908, A.M. Worthington gave a thorough account of splashes and their formation through visualization experiments. In more recent times, there has been renewed interest in this subject, and much of the underlying physics behind Worthington's experiments has now been clarified. One specific set of such recent studies, which motivates this paper, concerns the fluid dynamics behind Jackson Pollock's drip paintings. The physical processes and the mathematical structures hidden in his works have received serious attention and made the scientific pursuit of art a compelling area of exploration. Our current work explores the interaction of watercolors with watercolor paper. Specifically, we conduct experiments to analyze the settling patterns of droplets of watercolor paint on wet and frozen paper. Variations in paint viscosity, paper roughness, paper temperature, and the height of a released droplet are examined from time of impact, through its transient stages, until its final, dry state. Observable phenomena such as paint splashing, spreading, fingering, branching, rheological deposition, and fractal patterns are studied in detail and classified in terms of the control parameters.
Creation of Media Art Utilizing Fluid Dynamics
2017 International Conference on Culture and Computing (Culture and Computing), 2017
We have been working on the creation of media art utilizing technologies. As an extension of our previous research, this time we have focused on the visualization of behaviors of fluid. This area has been named as "fluid mechanics" or "fluid dynamics" and there have been various researches in this area. As some of the fluid motion look beautiful, there is another research area called "visualization of fluid motion." However most of these results show only stable fluid behaviors and lacks of unstable or in other words unpredictable behaviors that would be substantial for the creation of art. Therefore, to create various unstable or unpredictable fluid behaviors in trials to create artworks, we have introduced several new methods such as usage of dry ice, injection of paints into fluid, and usage of air gun to create an explosive effect. This paper proposes the basic concept of new video art called "Genesis" based on the visualization of fluid dynamics, describes details of the above mentioned three ideas that were introduced to create unpredictable fluid dynamics based phenomena, and then describes details of new media art we have created combining these ideas.
Genesis: New Media Art Created as a Visualization of Fluid Dynamics
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2017
We have been working on the creation of media art utilizing technologies. As an extension of our previous research, this time we have focused on the visualization of behaviors of fluid. This area has been named as "fluid mechanics" or "fluid dynamics" and there have been various researches in this area. As some of the fluid motion look beautiful, there is another research area called "visualization of fluid motion." However most of these results show only stable fluid behaviors and lacks of unstable or in other words unpredictable behaviors that would be substantial for the creation of art. Therefore, to create various unstable or unpredictable fluid behaviors in trials to create artworks, we have introduced several new methods such as usage of dry ice, injection of paints into fluid, and usage of air gun to create an explosive effect. This paper proposes the basic concept of new video art called "Genesis" based on the visualization of fluid dynamics, describes details of the above mentioned three ideas that were introduced to create unpredictable fluid dynamics based phenomena, and then describes details of new media art we have created combining these ideas.
Theoretical Foundations of Chemical Engineering, 2011
In this work, we describe a new and more practically useful approach to finding the relationship between the reflective properties of a painted surface, the physical properties of the paint, and the technolog ical parameters of painting. A simple formal dynamic model of the deformation of a droplet of a "metallic" type paint during its interaction with the surface being painted is constructed. The physical model takes into account the main forces responsible for the deformation dynamics of a droplet, i.e., forces of surface tension, viscous friction, elasticity, and inertia; a new rheological model, which is suitable for approximating the vis cosity of paints in a wide range of deformation rates, is used. To construct the mathematical model, we employed the method of integral balance equations of mass, momentum, and energy. The model is used to calculate the most important stages of the deformation of paint droplets during their deposition on the surface being painted, which have an effect on the orientation of pigment particles. For these stages, we compose characteristic strain approximating functions of the Reynolds and Weber numbers, which are proved to be useful for summarizing the results of experimental studies of the entire real process of painting.