Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock? will screen at the ICA this Sunday afternoon and next Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm. Tickets are available online.

Is this piece of art the work of
a) A five-year-old
b) Your old college roommate who put "magic mushrooms" on her pizza
c) Famed painter Jackson Pollock

Harvard researchers are saying that, whatever this painting is, it probably isn't "c." Harvard researchers tested three paintings owned by Alex Matter, who found the paintings in his father's storage. Matter's father was a friend of Pollock's, so it wasn't a stretch to assume that the paintings were Pollock's as well.

But Harvard isn't sure. They didn't say flat-out that the paintings were fakes, but it doesn't look good.

By not saying for sure if they're not Pollock's the researchers have helped drum up publicity for the "Pollock / Matters" exhibit, which is scheduled to be at the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College from September 1 through December 9 of this year. (Gotta love that hyper ironic slash!)

Of course, the people behind the "Pollock / Matters" exhibit dispute the Harvard findings in a long press release: "While Harvard has uncovered some discrepancies in the patent dates of some paints, most turn on a single work so heavily restored that it should not be included in the sample. Moreover, independent experts have questioned the dating of some other pigments, noting that varnish could have contaminated test results. (Michael Iskowitz, a paint expert with no interest in the newly discovered works, has examined the Harvard report and noted several areas of plausible disagreement with the report's conclusions.)"

Fake Pollock Fever has also spread to the ICA, which is showing Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?, a documentary about a truck driver who thinks she's stumbled on an original Pollock.

As a side note, Bostonist was saddened and dismayed that IvyGateBlog hadn't cranked out a clever headline on the Pollock/not-Pollock debate. They're on a two-posts-per-day schedule, and they've discontinued "RagTime," which was a roundup of the Ivy news. They discontinued it and thought the masses wouldn't mind. They mind. If you mind, be sure to tell the IvyGate Blog gang so in the comments.

Image of Pollack painting from WBZ, which has the channel's logo slapped on it and the "Property of Picturehouse" slug slapped on it lest you be confused that neither Bostonist, WBZ, nor Picturehouse is claiming Pollack's work as its own. Consider this a nesting-doll of copyright infringement.

Ed. Note: The painting in the screengrab above is not one of the paintings analyzed by the Harvard researchers. It was meant to show a sample of Pollack's work and to indicate the burst of local interest in the artist.