once-popular-'80s-artist-now-teaches-AI-to-emulate-his-style
In the realm of art, traditionalist David Salle bucked the trend and announced his love affair with AI. He's not afraid to hand over the brush to technology, crafting AI-inspired paintings that are half machine, half him. This, my friends, is the audacious fusion of human creativity and cutting-edge tech.
Salle, a heavyweight in the 80's New York art scene, is famous for his postmodernist juxtapositions. His work often steals liberally from the greats, like Caravaggio and Disney's storied canine pal, Goofy. So it's no surprise that he'd leap at the opportunity to use AI to sample his own style.
At first glance, Salle's latest work may not scream "AI art." The monumental pieces in his current exhibition, Some Versions of Pastoral, appear to be traditional oil paintings from afar. On closer inspection, however, the Digital Genie is revealed. The underpainting is a result of an AI model trained by Salle to paint in his style, a style that, if he had infinite time, might be exactly what he'd produce.
Salle's artistic journey with AI began when he imagined a virtual game allowing players to rearrange elements from his paintings. When that dream didn't pan out, he teamed up with software engineer Danika Laszuk of E.A.T._Works and Grant Davis, the mind behind the AI sketching app, Wand. Together, they trained a custom Stable Diffusion model on Salle's work.
At first, the AI was a creative disaster, churning out cartoonish messes akin to a toddler's first finger painting. The problem, Salle realized, was the AI's inability to grasp the concept of edges, something Salle perceived as crucial to artistic style. To remedy this, he gave the model a schooling in the ways of famous artists, like Warhol, Hopper, de Chirico, and Dove, and fed it scans of his own hand-drawn sketches. The AI, it seemed, had a newfound respect for the physicality of a brush stroke.
To produce his latest pieces, Salle further trained the AI on a dozen of his stylized color palette-jumping Pastorals from the late 90's. The result, the "New Pastorals," is a bizarre mixture of elements from Salle's work, complete with a chaotic randomness that hints at the AI's meddling. Yet, there's something new here too. The paintings, with their freer, looser strokes, look more hand-painted than the originals at a distance.
Salle insists that he's still the one calling the shots. In interviews, he claims the AI has yet to teach him a thing. Instead, he merely takes what the machine offers and shapes it to his desires. Some Versions of Pastoral is running at Thaddaeus Ropac London until June 8th.
If you're hankering for more AI news, check out the announcements from Adobe Max London, including third-party AI in Firefly and new Photoshop updates.
- David Salle, known for his postmodernist juxtapositions and love for AI, assembled a custom Stable Diffusion model for his art, trained on his style and that of famous artists.
- Salle's initial collaboration with the AI resulted in cartoonish, chaotic paintings, but he enhanced it with a lesson on edges and famous artists' techniques.
- The refined AI, now understanding the importance of brush strokes, produced Salle's latest works, "The New Pastorals," with a chaotic style hinting at AI involvement.
- Salle maintains control over the AI, using it to create artwork that aligns with his vision for bizarre, color-palette-jumping pieces.
- Intrigued by the fusion of art and technology, Salle imagines a virtual game where players rearrange his paintings, an idea that led him to collaborate with software engineer Danika Laszuk and Grant Davis.
- Adobe Max London, focusing on AI and technology, introduced updates for Photoshop and third-party AI integration in Firefly, attracting AI enthusiasts across the creative design spectrum.
- Salle's exhibition, Some Versions of Pastoral, features works that seem traditional at a distance but, upon closer inspection, reveal their AI-assisted origins.
- To experience Salle's audacious fusion of human creativity and cutting-edge tech firsthand, visit Thaddaeus Ropac London before June 8th.
