SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
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The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
Eric
Shi
SINGAPORE
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“With the arrival of AI arts, for the first time in human history we have an opportunity to see things from a non-human aesthetical point of view.”
This group of 10 artworks represent the first voyage into the art sea by a joint authorship of a human artist (Eric Shi) and his AI-assistant (an AI package called ESAG, short for Eric Shi Art Generator).
The ten digital paintings of this exhibition are jointly created by Eric Shi and his AI virtual assistant ESAG (short for Eric Shi Art Generator). These paintings are composed by deploying a proper color gradient field, a proprietary AI painting technique developed at the ES&AG AI Art Studio. AIP0068 attempts to use this technique to transform a depressive thought of crossing Sahara into a soothing and pastoral poem and hopefully has met some success.
We humans have been for a long time nebulously suspecting the existence of advanced extraterrestrials (as beautifully summarized by the Fermi paradox). Now, for the first time, we have had an opportunity to vaguely peek at things from a non-human aesthetical point of view thanks to the arrival of AI arts. Naturally, we are intrigued to explore further whether some of the non-human angles could direct us to hypothesizing coarse outlines of extra-terrestrial aesthetics, if any.
The unconventional color scheme of AIP0048 depicts the high spirits of a lad dancing his way through a city. The color gradient field technique, which involves extensive computation of 1st order gradient and 2nd order gradient of color fields, points us to a new way to understand the artistic principles that ESAG follows, albeit that the color scheme of this artwork defies the fundamental principles of physics of light and color.
If we are curious enough, modest enough, and persistent enough in working with AI, it should also be able to lead us to the opportunity of identifying and possibly quantifying the limitations of the artistic imagination of us humans.
AI art can empower us to break free from the chains and shackles that have lucked and hardened our imaginations for centuries.
Many of such current limitations may not be intrinsic to our biological natures but be imposed upon us by the development history of human civilization on earth, which is characterized by the lack of an objective reference point, as our superiority in thinking capacity has never been challenged by any non-Homo sapiens species on earth. This is like a person who has never had a chance to take a good look at himself, and hence not knowing how dirty and ugly he is, because he has never had a mirror (or any other proper reflective surface). AI art (along with other AI tools) has placed such an objective mirror into our hands now. Recognizing our weaknesses might be brutal to our emotions in the beginning but will eventually liberate our abilities.
The master plan directing ESAG’s activities is to return to the fundamentals, e.g., in re-scouting and demarcating the possible base campus, directions, limits of color scheme mutations and evolutions, before the governing algorithm over the self-guided evolution is finalized for a fully autonomous version of the ESAG. It is like a deeper squat, planned for higher jump.
A good manifestation of this probably would be the fact that we generally find it very difficult to fully appreciate the mental processes that led the past art masters (e.g., Van Gogh, Picasso, and Matisse) to the creations of their masterpieces, not to mention to visualize a path to surpass any one of these masters.
AIP0072 explores the possibility of drawing support from color gradient field and color diplopia (another proprietary AI painting technique developed at the ES&AG AI Art Studio) to aid in the visualization of phenomena that may occur during the trans-universe moments. It also challenges emotional connotations of colors as suggested by Plutchik’s wheel of emotions, and reveals that it is not the colors that matter; it is the color gradients that matter.
AI art holds the promise of empowering us to break free from the chains and shackles that have locked and hardened our imaginations for centuries.
Using juxtaposition of color dots to compose a painting is not an invention by AI. What AI added to it include: (1) the confidence on its chosen juxtaposition scheme, backed up by thousands of rounds of computations in comparing with alternative juxtaposition schemes/plans; (2) incorporation of optical manipulations into the designing the color field details. In AIP0088, the color diplopia effect is used to embed the dual focal planes, hence two optimal viewing distances, into the painting.
AI art holds the promise of changing all these. It can empower us to break free from the chains and shackles that have locked and hardened our imaginations for centuries. The minimum it can offer is to allow us to check out exhaustively all possible (i.e., calculable) pathways to surpass the past masters, through “simulating” masters’ thought processes from one stage to another in their respective lives.
In Capricornus, some stars are red or yellow, others are blue or white. The constellation has first attested as a goat-fish on a cylinder seal from Mesopotamia c.a. 4000 years ago, and then in the Babylonian star catalogs c.a. 1000 years later. In Greek mythology, it is depicted as the "horn of plenty". AIP0066 imagines a scene when a spaceship lands on Capricornus. Has the mythological element transformed itself into the facial characteristics of the alien pilot?
The 10 artworks included in this solo exhibition are placed under a common theme – “From viewpoint of ESAG – an AI art generator,” because these 10 artworks are created as a result of close interactions between a human artist and the ESAG, against the broad background mentioned above.
ESAG has been training hard to learn how to paint in different styles (e.g., oil-painting style, gouache style, watercolor style, and ink-painting styles) and to unite its broken pieces of knowledge (e.g., on substrates, textures, hues, grey-scale, opacity, their inferred emotional values, and associated aesthetic values) into a comprehensive framework of color gradient theory. AIP0089 is an output of ESAG’s training to learn to paint in surrealistic styles.
At a time when “fully autonomous” AI art creators, such as DeepDream and DALL-E, have already been developed by the AI superpowers, the motivation behind the creation of these 10 artworks is to take a step back consciously from where the fully autonomous AI art creators have already achieved. The master plan directing ESAG’s activities over this period is to return to the fundamentals, e.g., in re-scouting and demarcating the possible base campus, directions, limits of color scheme mutations and evolutions, before the governing algorithm over the self-guided evolution is finalized for a fully autonomous version of the ESAG. It is like a deeper squat, planned for higher jump.
AIP0064 explores the possibility of visualizing the abstract concept of the parallel universe, and a winged being is chosen to manifest the efficacy of the color diplopia method. Diplopia is a medical term describing the simultaneous perception of two images of a single object. Color diplopia is a term we coined to describe a manmade variant of diplopia. It can generate enough visual illusion needed to convey the trans-universe impression, yet without invoking any true diplopia.
Our thinking capacity has never been challenged by any non-Homo sapiens species on earth.
AIP0058 depicts a horseman galloping across a pasture under the high sky of autumn. Due to a novel painting technique – the color gradient field method – programmed into ESAG, it has managed to defuse the artistic feeling of the high sky into the painting, although no high sky is painted in AIP0058. The texture used by ESAG also helped to usher in the sense of a pasture. Viewers interested in the color gradient field method are advised to visit blogs posted at www.esandag-ai-art-studio.com.
Associated projects are in the ESAG’s pipeline, e.g., to investigate the relative emotional characteristics of color combinations in the context of art creations; to quantify the respective boundaries of such emotional characteristics in art creation practices; to compare color schemes used by past masters vs. those “recommended” by the ESAG for a given theme; and to investigate possible ways to merge the beauty of arts with the beauty of mathematics, in a hope to create a unified aesthetic framework – “Math-aesthetics.” Kudos to the Art Show International! The brave decision made by the company in selecting this group of nonconventional artworks and in accepting them to this solo exhibition demonstrates the vision of its international jury and the company management.
Traditionally, surrealistic works may prefer opaque and powdery colors and the gouache method; and abstract expressionist and/or hazystic works may prefer diffusive media and watercolor or ink-painting methods. AI is making these boundaries blur and has offered us an opportunity to sublime past pieces of painting knowledge into a common theory. AIP0014 reflects such a study by ESAG to paint a watercolor, without invoking dissolved pigments nor taking leverage on the osmotic property of paper.
Eric Shi's Bio:
A proud Singapore citizen. One of few artists who not only use AI to create art, but also take the trouble to program the AI in person.
Trained as a technologist/scientist, having Ph.D. (Chem.) from USA, Ph.D. (Biophys. and Biochem.) from USA, MBA from UK, M.Sc. from China and B. Sc. from China.
Researched photonic computers, nonlinear optics, nano-structures, and molecular machinery, in addition to chemical dynamics and reaction mechanisms.
Worked in academia and various industries.
Started his own AI art studio (ES&AG AI Art Studio) in June 2021.
Currently working with his virtual AI assistants ESAG and ESNA (abbreviations for Eric Shi Art Generator and Eric Shi Neo Analyzer, respectively) on (1) AI art creation, (2) nonconventional AI technologies for knowledge-creation, and (3) novel designs of smart contracts supported by blockchains. A small selection of outcomes of (1) is on display in this gallery.
AIP0063 is a testimonial after reading the《Boule de Suif》, exposing the hypocritical aspects of human nature. The melody shown below the AIP0063 is extracted from the color movement of the painting, by an AI virtual assistant ESMC (short for Eric Shi Music Composer), using a proprietary technique called “pseudo-synesthesia” recently developed at the ES&AG AI Art Studio. For the first time in human history, it has become possible to hear the color movements of a painting, in the form of music.