Here’s a glimpse of a conceptual art project I have been working on in the background that incorporates AI on a few different levels. The working series title is ART/PROMPT because it attempts to take generative AI prompts (or rather meta hot-takes on them) and turn those into hand-lettered paintings. So the viewer looking at the painting sees the text prompt and then their own imagination is provoked into completing the scene described.

Here’s an initial image set, all of these made in Recraft. In making these, I came to exactly the same headspace I have with other explorations in the past using AI to visualize art concepts: it’s unlikely that (1) I would be easily able to paint better paintings than these myself by hand (though they would be qualitatively very different, which is still important – probably now of primary importance), and (2) that I would be able to get as good quality photos of them as easily as I can just by figuring out how to get an AI image generator to spit them out for me.

I did do one hand-painted prototype of one of these slogans IRL, but it’s not included in this sample set cause, well, I forgot to photograph it. And again, it’s just not as good as the items generated by Recraft in this set.

The opportunities in this seem endless to me, and I have many I made that aren’t in that public set.

Maybe I’m just an asshole (probably), but there’s also something really exciting about being able to use these… let’s call them meme paintings? as a way to directly confront a lot of the outrage and unhappiness people are feeling with regard to generative AI technologies:

For the most part, those reservations are not actually feelings I really personally resonate with. Though I understand well where they are coming from anyway, and want to recognize the positions, rather than simply ignore them.

Check out the whole set here.

I’m actually looking currently for partners with functional robot arm painting set-ups who would be willing to work together on executing some of these as special editions. Email me and let’s talk.

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