AwA - (art)ificial Intelligence

THE EDGE

by AwA

(ART)ificial Intelligence

Art with Altitude

Winter 2022

43

What is art? Is art something conceived by a human or potentially another living creature, or is art in the actual physicality of creation? With artificial intelligence (AI) apps becoming more and more sophisticated, there is new access to art for people who might not otherwise consider themselves artists. Jason Allen garnered international attention for his AI creation, Space Opera Theater when the piece won first prize at the Colorado State Fair in the emerging artist division for digital art. Traditional artists attacked him for putting them out of business. But think for a moment about iPhone photography apps. The color saturation, ability to edit and use filters allowed amateur photographers to take professional-looking images. Digital technology is changing how art is made. The question is, will artists fight it or use it as a tool?

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According to Jason, the definition of art is “transformation. To change from vision to form.” As a child, Jason was always good at drawing but he ended up entering the technical side of art through his company Incarnate Games. Jason is the art director, which allows him to take things out of his metaphysical mind’s eye and put creative ideas into form through other artist’s work. At Incarnate Games, artists are elevated to the same level as game designers.

This stemmed from Jason’s experience at GenCon where the game designers didn’t know the artists who created artwork for their games.

Some people think AI artwork means throwing artists under the bus—but could this technology create new artists? “How many people really care about the creators? It makes me furious,” said Jason. “I created Space Opera Theater to make a point. The State Fair was one stop along the way of a bigger statement. My grandmother used to enter her art into the State Fair contest and I went with her to the art gallery. I always thought it would be cool to win.”

Jason has studied AI art and feels the best prompt (how you bring an image to life) crafters in AI are already established artists.

Jason wants people to know is he is coming from a place of deep appreciation for art and artists. “People ask if AI is ethical. They are worried these programs will replace artists, but corporations already use technology to replace artists every day.”

So is what Jason did art? An anonymous woman reached out to Jason via social media. “Hi. I know this is really forward but just stumbled upon your amazing artwork, Space Opera Theater. It is completely stunning and brought me some of the first happiness I felt since my dad passed away. Any piece that can evoke such emotion is absolutely art.”

The creative community is going through an existential crisis due to the rise of disruptive technology like Midjourney, who produces a program that creates images from text prompts. There will always be a place for traditional art and for the human touch—no question, that’s not a debate. Yet AI technology is here and it is not going away, so how can artists harness it for their benefit?

“I like to compare artists with alchemists. Art is the purest form of alchemy,” said Jason. “AI simply delivers the art in my mind to form. AI art is my spirit statement, my soul statement.”

ELEVATE THE ARTS: Have a discussion with friends or local artists to find out how they feel about art created by AI. Try it for yourself by visiting a platform like Midjourney. AwA Art with Altitude

Page 43: Theatre D’opera Spatial.

Page 44: Regina di Natale.

Page 45: Pensato Alla Guerra and Maestro.

Photos courtesy of Jason Allen.

Art with Altitude

Winter 2022

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