Brave New World

This week I have been experimenting with AI. I’ve been using Midjourney to generate images for the project I am developing based on the Italian Renaissance painter Lavinia Fontana. Through the lens of contemporary painting and fashion I will explore how her unique appreciation of the material culture of 16^th century Bologna supported her exceptional paintings.  They frequently featured three areas of significance to the local economy of Bologna: silk production, gold-smithery and the breeding of very small dogs. The tension, while I wait to see how AI copes with the collision of these elements, is great fun. I’m always hoping for a supernova.

I will certainly get better at producing images using AI, but I thought I’d share some with you at this early stage.

There are lots of failures. Here is the elbow dog that I don’t remember requesting.

I also took my first trip to Hastings Contemporary this week, to see the Hurvin Anderson’s ‘Barbershop’ series of paintings, 2006 – 2022. He explores ‘how history plays a part in the present’ and ‘being in one place while thinking about another.’ He often interrogates the same subject for many years searching for new interpretations, which chimes with me. Be warned that the exhibition has now closed, however you can still see it if you can find your way to the Kistefos Museum, Norway.

Here is a painting from the Exhibition entitled ‘Is it OK to be Black?’, 2016.

‘Jersey’, 2008

Detail of ‘Shear Cut’, 2023

Have a good week.

Warm wishes

Fiona