I’m continued to be touched and amazed by the AI creators I’m collaborating with for Art Basel. One of the people is 𝑵𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑲𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑨, who hails from Baku, Azerbaijan and who I first noticed by the beautiful AI creations she posted on Instagram, www.instagram.com/moonlightxn . Only after inviting her to collaborate on images for Art Basel did I found out how deep she thinks and feels about art.
Nara poses a significant question: “Can Technology free us?” With all the advances in technology, is our life any better? The jury is out, but what I do know is my own experience. My life has been falling apart over the last couple of years and the AI image revolution has given me meaning in life. That may sound grandiose, but I think it’s a natural urge of humans to create and that creation gives meaning. I love this painting by Mark Henson , PAINTBRUSH WARRIOR, below because it so expresses what I feel: Life can be can be full of chaos and art can bring beauty and meaning to that chaos.
PAINTBRUSH WARRIOR by Mark Henson
If the technology really gave us the freedom it promised us
The themes of my works are about destroying the comfort zone, the known interpretations and leaving the used environments. AI is an art of coincidence, that helps me to create never finished realities to show the false side of matter. I also feel nowadays the influence of nostalgia of old times in any kind of art, design and fashion and the need to repeat, remix and recreate old traditions into unconventional freedom styles. I call it the New Age Contemporary.”
— 𝑵𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑲𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑨
Nara’s words make me think about how AI images are the epitome of derivative artwork. All the output is generated upon input. Can there be any new creation with it? In an effort to make new creations, Midjourney, one of the most popular AI image generators, is discussing creating incentives to uses to create the most unusual images in order to break out of the natural paths of least resistance that are being worn into ruts as many users re-travel the same paths through the liminal space of AI imaging.
At the same time I see a wonderful explosion of healthy derivative work that is breathing new life into old masters who have been left on the way side in the annals of art history. Now every artist is becoming their own paint brush in the set of AI prompt options, bring new life to old artists. I’ve learned more about old artist in the past month than I did for years of living in Paris with annual passes to the Orsay and Louvre.
Artist as paint brushes in AI is a topic for its own blog post.
More from 𝑵𝑨𝑹𝑨 𝑲𝑯𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑨 at moonlightxn