 Hi, art lovers! | | |  | AI data paintings by Refik Anadol appear on screen at the 65th Grammy Awards. They're the swirling red and magenta patterns, not the photos of Harry Styles. The pop star is very much real and not the product of a generative AI model. I met him once. He was nice. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for the Recording Academy) | | | In case you missed it, Thursday’s episode of Q with Tom Power featured a conversation with Hannah Epstein, a Nova Scotia artist we’ve featured on CBC Arts before, albeit for way different projects than the one she discussed on the show. Best known for making smart (and hilarious) textile art about digital/pop culture, Hannah was on Q to talk about a project called Critbot, which is basically an AI-powered Jerry Saltz, capable of analyzing artwork with the push of an upload button. (Try it for yourself. The results are shared on Instagram.)
Since humankind first prompted a text-to-image generator to make a picture of Shrek eating pizza with Spider-Man, the dizzying question of AI’s impact on the arts remains. Much of the present chaos seems to surround image generators and how the companies that built them have scraped the work of real live artists, without credit or compensation, to collect the data an AI model requires to do its many-fingered magic. (Some artists have taken legal action, and more recently, one of the world’s biggest commercial photo agencies, Getty Images, filed a lawsuit against Stabilty AI, creator of Stable Diffusion.) But as Critbot might serve to remind you, the puzzle of how AI is changing the way we think about art goes way beyond who gets credit for images that share an uncanny similarity to ‘70s prog rock album art. There is a staggering number of AI tools already available: applications for art, photo editing, fashion … dating apps. Can AI dish out credible criticism (per Critbot)? Can AI curate better than a human? It’s already being used to generate awards-show sets and background art for Netflix animated series. For now, at least, I agree with this analysis: AI is “a bullshit generator, but it can still be amazingly useful.” (Here, for example, are three ways you can use it to boost creativity.) | | | | | And because we promised you eye candy ... | | | | |  | Vladimir Kanic | | Those sculptures? They’re made with live algae, and in a single day they can supposedly produce as much oxygen as a small forest. The artist is Vladimir Kanic, and if you want to see his latest exhibition in person (and maybe breathe on it too), you can find it at InterAccess in Toronto through Feb. 18. | | | | |  | Revill Villanueva | | Mall art that isn’t a Magic Eye poster! Halos of Scarborough Town Centre by Revill Villanueva. Revill’s part of a two-person show at York University’s Gales Gallery. (Imagined Worlds, on to Feb. 17.) | | | | |  | Robert Xavier Burden | | Way, way back in 2016, we interviewed Robert Xavier Burden about his monumental paintings of retro toys and action figures. The Canadian-born artist is still as dedicated to that practice as ever, and his latest work-in-progress is The Alien Painting, a piece he’ll be working on live as part of his upcoming solo exhibition at the Oceanside Museum of Art in California (Feb. 18 to June 4). | | | | |  | CBC | | | | | Wish you were creating, not stuck at the office? These stars of Best in Miniature know the feeling, but they’ve found a way to make a living off their favourite pastime. Here’s how they knew it was time to make the leap. | | | | |  | Aaron Jones/Art Gallery of Ontario | | | | | A new exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario considers the art form in the broadest possible terms. | | | | |  | Samuel Engelking/CBC Arts | | | | | | | The filmmaker is this month’s Rising Star. His latest film, Concrete Valley, blends documentary and fiction. | | |  | Michelle Bui | | Michelle’s work is as gorgeous as it is unsettling, and this image from 2017 (Pretty in Pink) is a damned good illustration of that fact, I think. We ran a profile of the Montreal-based artist last week. Find it here. | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | | | | Got questions? Typo catches? Story ideas? | | | We're just an email away. Send us a note, and we'll do our best to get back to you.
If someone forwarded you this message and you like what you've read, here's where to subscribe for more.
I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time! | | | | | |
