First, I am still very much enjoying making physical artwork. The entrance of AI is definitely a compelling presence that I’ve used as a rendering tool lately. For an oil painting that I’m doing, which is a new challenge for me, the AI program helped to determine the layout for the subject matter.
The renderings are pleasing and often delightfully strange on their own — yet the physical work has a presence and entirely different aesthetic that a human carries out.
Another fun recent use of AI, as you can see above and also below, was in conceiving a monumental art installation, at the Parthenon at night time. Though fantasy, the extension of my imagination with the layers of AI allows a new level of headroom to go beyond my norm in conceptualization. I was able to describe almost instantaneously, a complex concept for an exhibition and place all this in an amazingly exotic locale.
Arranging this cosmic flavored event would be logistically complex to say the least, but the point is that with AI assistance, I am able to visualize and conceptualize with broader scope, which is very powerful. Other rendering tools [including me!] can do this and have different technical purposes, but the AI art programs take it to another level of speed and detail, especially for something like a sculpture and light installation.
I can only hope, optimistically, that this makes me smarter in a way and a better artist. I consider it an exciting time to have these dreams take flight and reach ever higher altitude because of new computer technology, or tools. When I use AI art programs or ChatGPT, in a way it feels like the Star Trek Enterprise computer, especially when bouncing concepts and details. And it’s *fascinating that a first major category for the application of AI is Art, the realm of the imagination.
I should reiterate that I still make and very much want to make physical works, but AI helps me go a lot farther in imagining the possible projects I could do, and even breaking down the so-called impossible into parts, and that’s definitely mind expanding.