These Canadian artists are early adopters and they're blown away by what they've seen so far.
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Hi, Art!

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Hi, Art!

Sunday, July 17, 2022

Hi, art lovers!

 
While working on this article about artists playing with AI, I somehow scored (very) limited access to Midjourney. It’s one of the various AI-powered tools that can transform a string of keywords into seriously startling visuals — and the preferred AI gadget used by one of the folks I interviewed for the piece, Winston Hacking (previously seen here). Staring down a brand new technology, I did what anyone would do … if they were facing a deadline: I asked the bot to illustrate the story.

My prompt: “Four Canadian artists making images with AI.”

What I got:
 
Composite of digital images generated using Midjourney. They seem to depict blurry human faces, mostly thin whie women, and glitchy framed artworks that prominently feature a red maple leaf.

Midjourney

 

I filed the story, but didn’t bother including that picture. These AI-generated headline photos are way more effective, so what the heck happened with my attempt? Do the robots really think every Canadian artist is a thin white woman … and occasionally a forgotten Trudeau sibling who’s been trapped in the attic of 24 Sussex for 50 years? AI bias is real, pals. And while this in-depth explainer won’t specifically answer my previous question, I’d recommend watching it if you need a breezy primer on what this world-changing technology is all about. Like anything new, it all seems as terrifying as the average DALL-E Mini meme, and earlier this year, Q discussed a few of the big philosophical questions we’re being forced to mull in the wake of it. There are already guidebooks logging how to “prompt engineer” the most satisfying image results. Is this going to change the way we use language to describe art and everything we see? What happens when everyone has the power to remix all of art history? Are we at the beginning of a new movement?

 

And because we promised you eye candy ...

Painting resembling a photo collage of modern architectural angles and blue landscapes of sky and sea.

Aline Setton

Shift of Light. Painting by Toronto’s Aline Setton.

 
Realist graphite drawing of a female figure lying on the soil embracing a fallen sunflower, its bloom pressed hard against her face.

Kima Lenaghan

For Now by Kima Lenaghan. Like Aline, Kima’s appearing at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair this weekend.
 
Photo of a human hand holding a leafy seedline. Its leaves are printed with phrases in serif font. Those visible read:

Jenn Law

Any gardeners out there? What do you think of this? Weed Poems! Artist Jenn Law has been making these at Open Studio in Toronto, experimenting with letterpress printing on living plants.
 
Surreal image of overlapping organic forms: abstract shapes, frog eyes, lily pads. Some are black and white and others are painted in watercolour producing a transparency effect.

Sarah Davidson

Burn by Sarah Davidson.
 
 

You've got to see this

 
 
 
Photo collage. Two digital images of 3D forms. The image at left is in pastel forms and depicts an amorphous beige blob with four appendages in a room with a computer desk and some other draped surface. At right, a peach blob with blue googly eyes and pink lips is speckled with multicoloured spheres.
Bridget Moser/Ginette Lapalme/DALL-E 2

DALL-E 2: The world's seen nothing like it, but can AI spark a creative renaissance?

 
How will text-to-image AI change the way artists work? Four Canadian creatives weigh in.
 
Photo of Aikapinakii Low Horn, a young woman of Blackfoot heritage. She wears her long dark hair in braids and is wearing regalia in tan, green and red. She smiles and wears horn-rimmed glasses and a tall white hat that reads
Facebook/Calgary Stampede First Nations Princess

Calgary Stampede’s First Nations Princess wants you to to understand her people’s connection to rodeo

 
“The rodeo scene is still a part of who we are,” says Sikapinakii Low Horn. An artist and graduate student at the University of Calgary, Sikapinakii’s a member of Siksika Nation.
 
Photo of five thin people of various genders and cultural backgrounds. They stand in an all white room and wear plain outfits in primary colours.

Greg Wong

 

‘Not the India of nostalgia and romance’

 
Chalking is a contemporary dance production that crosses continents, languages and dance styles. See it (for free!) in Toronto this summer.
 

Follow this artist

 
 
 
Instagram

Mapleside Museum of Miniature Art

@mmoma_hamont
Photo of a scene made in miniature. A figurine of a man in a black sweater vest sits on a wooden bench looking at two painted canvases of cartoonish waterfowl: a mallard duck and a loon.

@mmoma_hamont

MMOMA for short, this tiny art gallery looks a lot like one of those Little Free Libraries that have proliferated in neighbourhoods all over. But instead of being stocked with dog-eared copies of The Da Vinci Code, MMOMA hosts miniature exhibitions by local artists — pros and newbs alike. Read more about it. And if you’re in Hamilton, Ont., get over to Mapleside Avenue to see it IRL.
 

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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time!

 
XOXO CBC Arts
XOXO CBC Arts
 
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