Computer analysis tells genuine art from fake

The art world may no longer need experts to distinguish between genuine and fake pieces - a computer could be able to do the job.

A scientist from Lawrence Technological University in Michigan has developed a computer analysis tool that was able to tell with 93 per cent accuracy whether a painting was by abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock or was a fake.

Pollock - most famous for his "drip painting" technique - is one of the most counterfeited artists of all time and even experts often have trouble identifying whether pieces attributed to him are genuine.

Last year, for example, the FBI arrested 54-year-old John Re of East Hampton in the US for allegedly selling over 60 forged paintings which he claimed to be by Pollock to collectors - sometimes via eBay. He is accused of making nearly $1.9m from the activity.

Using a machine vision approach and computational analyses, Lior Shamir characterised the low-level numerical differences between original Pollock drip paintings and drip paintings done by others attempting to mimic this signature style.

Using the technique, a scan of a given painting is analysed and 4,024 numerical image descriptors extracted, Shamir explains. Among these descriptors are fractals formed by the movement of the dripping paint and features such as Zernike polynomials and Haralick textures.

"The human perception of visual art is a complex cognitive task that involves different processing centres in the brain," Shamir explains. "The work of Jackson Pollock showed unique physiological and neurological human responses to Pollock's drip paintings."

But, the human eye is limited in its perception of the specific physical qualities of a painting. A computer, on the other hand, can quantify the details at the pixel by pixel level once a painting has been digitized and "see" details and patterns that we do not consciously detect.

Shamir's analysis demonstrates that although any amateur might imagine they could copy Pollock's work, it is indeed unique and his signature style gave rise to specific features and textures that Pollock pretenders have repeatedly failed to emulate accurately.

His software is publicly available and could be used to analyse the work of other artists in verifying authenticity or revealing the fakes.

The work will be described in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Arts and Technology.


Image courtesy of Dmitro2009 / Shutterstock.com