Utilizing mathematics and geometry in artistic discourses has been long practiced all over the world: from architecture of Persepolis, Islamic and Renaissance designs to graphic arts of Escher (20th c.) and Persian miniature of Farshchian (20th -21st c.). The boundary of geometry, fine and popular art is blurred in the computer/digital age since the simulacra of many artworks are represented in postcards, computer wallpapers, advertisements, tiles, carpets… . This paper focuses mainly on Farshchian’s paintings and their representation in Iran’s culture and popular art. The wide-spreading popularity of Farshchian’s painting in Iran is studied in two layers: 1) socio-artistic: the links of his paintings with literature, religion and mysticism; 2) structural: the applicability of his painting to fractal geometry. Fractal geometry is a scientific narrative promising to break down the patterns and forms of nature into primitive describing ‘components’ which are uncomplicated geometrical transformations and algorithms. They run in a loop and their output is fed back as a new input iteratively. In Farshchian, these ‘components’ are curvature lines. Thus, Fractal theory facilitates expressing intricacy in simple frames with astonishingly brief explanation (e.g., technically, fractal origin of pictures enhances better compression for digital transmission). Classical fractals are self-similar however; any self-similar structure is not fractal. Once a figure is suspected to be fractal by visual inspection, one must test it with mathematical metrics such as self-similarity dimension. For fractal structures, the similarity dimension is neither an integer number nor the same as the Euclidean dimension. These narratives-- metaphysical (i.e.: mystic, religious) and physical (mathematical) -- allies fine and popular art with science. Thus, anybody can have his/her own version of Farshchian twice or thrice adapted--as a soft or hard copy. These simulacra keep their links with the original work in theme and in the popularity of its adaptability.

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