Nobody’s Children

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At the beginning of the 2020′s the explosion of Generative AI infiltrated the artworld. Artists (almost) universally condemned these tools in a number of high-profile ways. Their reasons are wide and varied, some of them valid, but many of them dubious from an aesthetic standpoint. It struck me that very few artists stood up in support of GenAI — so in the fall of 2021 I set out to create a project to explore the positive aspects of GenAI.

As a commercial artist, I find it unconscionable to use children as a subject of commercial artwork. Consent is intranigral to portraiture — and children lack the ability to give consent, instead relying on their parents to give it for them. Even that (in my personal experience working with child actors) is sometimes dubious as parents often come to their table with their own agenda, which has nothing to do with the wishes and desires of their children. We can see this play out on social media where we have waves of parents using (and abusing) their children for social fame and commercial gain.

What if we can have the best of both worlds? What if we could feature children as the subject of our works without the need to intrude on a child’s privacy and personal identity?

Nobody’s Children seeks to do just that; A series of 50+ AI photographs featuring children playing, pretending and otherwise existing printed as 12×12 Cyanotypes. As these children are not based on real people, I as the artist have theoretically absolved myself of the exploitation which is inherent when using children for commercial gain. Even if these children are the amalgamation of several random children (in various stages of consent), we haven’t exploited the individuality of any single child rather abstractly drawing our content from the collective of childhood; a lesser sin perhaps.

Nobody’s Children strikes at the heart of the issue of GenAI in the arts. It questions identity and ownership, but in a way that I see as positive and productive rather and pessimistic and dismissive. GenAI is here to stay, so we as artists need to find ways to use it for the better

Redactive Poetry

This series grew organically out of my collage practice — “Why?”, I thought, “Should I waste 1/2 of the magazine only going after images?” Followed by “How can I best use the rest of the magazine to make something interesting and creative?” I routinely describe this to my customers as “The most difficult thing I do” […]

Derivative Photography

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Inferno

Inferno is an upcoming feature-length experimental adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, from The Divine Comedy. The film will be shot entirely in the 1st person on traditional 8mm, 16mm and 35mm motion-picture stock. The film will follow the basic frame-work of the original text while updating the symbolism and contextual messages to suit today’s audiences.

Looking At: Looking Into

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Looking At: Looking Into is an upcoming series of short motion pictures on the subject of Mediated Voyeurism. Mediated Voyeurism is the act of consuming voyeuristic content through means of a 3rd party, most typically through a mass media outlet such as: television, radio, newsprint or internet. The films will be presented within hand-crafted Mutoscopes, a primitive exhibition device popular before the advent of the film-projector. Mutoscopes are essentially a box with a ‘peep hole’ attached. A viewer looks into the device and turns a crank which animates a  motion-picture. Looking At: Looking Into will paint a typical portrait of Mediated Voyeurism from today’s media. The viewer will look at these shorts and instantly recognize them as familiar, something they see everyday and are likely complacent with. The film’s presentation within a Mutoscope greatly amplifies its already voyeuristic nature, because of the divergent formal properties Mutoscopes have over traditional media systems. Mutoscopes require the viewer to be an active and willing participant in the content they are consuming, by choosing to look into the ‘Peep Hole’ the viewer is committing themselves to a voyeuristic act, and by turning the crank the viewer is actively engaging with the content inside. By making the viewer an active participant in the voyeuristic content they are watching, I am inciting the viewer to be accountable for the content they are consuming. This makes Looking At: Looking Into a commentary on the viewers complacency with Mediated Voyeurism. It is my hope that the combination of voyeuristic content and a participatory means of consumption causes the viewer to reflect on their role in the proliferation of Mediated Voyeurism, and maybe re-examine it.

51 Fragments of a Wandering Mind

51 Fragments of a Wandering Mind is an experimental feature length documentary which is both existential self-portrait and gritty travelogue. Shot over six months, in 13 countries and completely on a toy camera, 51 Fragments presents a first person account of a man trying to find meaning in a world becoming increasingly meaningless.

BLUE HANDS

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BLUE HANDS IS A SERIES OF 6 SHORT EXPERIMENTAL FILMS PRINTED BY HAND USING AND ANTIQUE PHOTOCHEMICAL PROCESS KNOWN AS THE CYANOTYPE. THE FILM IS ANTIQUARIAN IN NATURE AND HARKENS BACK TO A TIME WHEN CINEMA WAS VERY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT IT HAS BECAME TODAY. THE 6 FILMS MIMIC A STYLE OF FILM KNOWN AS ‘ACTUALITY FILMS’ A BODY OF WORK SPANNING 25 YEARS BEGINNING IN THE 1890′S IN WHICH FILM WAS A SIMPLE DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD AROUND US AND NOTHING MORE. BLUE HANDS IS SIMILARLY SIMPLISTIC IN IT’S REPRESENTATION OF CRAFT PERSONS PREFORMING THEIR PARTICULAR CRAFT WORK. THE REPRESENTED ARTIST REFLECTS MY OWN CRAFT WORK AS I SEE THE APPLICATION AND PRINTING OF EACH OF THE 11,000 CYANOTYPES TO BE AN EXERCISE OF CRAFT (IN RELATION TO FILM-MAKING). IN TOTAL THE 6 FILMS SPAN 4 YEARS OF WORK BEGINNING IN 2008 AND ENDING IN 2012. BLUE HANDS WAS PRODUCED THROUGH A 2010 EMERGING ARTIST PRODUCTION GRANT FROM JEROME FOUNDATION.Untitled-3 Untitled-8

Fine Art

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The artist goes through states of emptiness and fullness, and that is all there is to the mystery of art ~Pablo Picasso

 

Photography

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