I am not an AI artist (I don’t know what that is). I am, in fact, someone deeply interested in language and the various language materials we humans use to express ourselves. AI generations are merely the latest in a long list of materials humans have invented to write, draw*, paint, compose, to use for making and also to trigger destruction. And so, I have used AI technology in my non-commercial work (although now in commercial work too) along with a range of other language materials. I like to remind myself and others constantly that language itself is a form of technology. Recently, I have been looking at the idea of kitsch because a description of that seems to correlate perfectly with the general consensus around AI generated images.
The following comes from an article about Clement Greenberg and his essay on Kitsch and the Avant Garde;
Kitsch is mechanical and operates by formulas. Kitsch is vicarious experience and faked sensations. Kitsch changes according to style, but remains always the same. Kitsch is the epitome of all that is spurious in the life of our times. Kitsch pretends to demand nothing of its customers except their money — not even their time.
Willette, J., 2011. “The Avant-Garde and Kitsch,” 1939 by Clement Greenberg | Art History Unstuffed.
I am looking forward to a discussion about kitsch soon with a group of artists who I meet regularly and may feel ready to write about this in further detail afterwards. There is much to say!
*Light-drawing is the most basic definition of photography and at some point I will discuss why I think the word photography is now an anachronism.
All these images were made using the prompt (or variations thereof): random non-objects including TV parts that show the same scene playing on the coloured screen taped to a wall and floor and [insert additional object] and photographed images and legs and arms poking through, fashion photography, photorealistic, filmic, [insert artist’s name] –aspect 4:5 –chaos 15 –style raw – They were made in connection to research and my colleague and friend Anastasia Tikhonova who I graduated with from Central St Martins earlier this year. Anastasia and I are currently earning a living (no, that is too strong a word – rather, we are earning some money) generating images for commercial purposes.
Refs
Willette, J., 2011. “The Avant-Garde and Kitsch,” 1939 by Clement Greenberg | Art History Unstuffed. URL https://arthistoryunstuffed.com/the-avant-garde-and-kitsch-1939/ (accessed 10.21.23).
Greenberg, Clement (1939). “Avant Garde and Kitsch”. The Partisan Review: 34–49