Nothing pleases me greater than when somebody laughs out loud while taking a look at one among my work. – Alan MacDonald
Alan, there’s a prevailing humorousness present in your new work, not simply within the parts , however within the titles. “The Future Doge” and “A King With No Bling”. Do you wish to focus on {that a} bit? Do titles like these develop into a type of secret joke between the viewer and/or the collector?
Alan: Nothing pleases me greater than when somebody laughs out loud while taking a look at one among my work. As comedians are conscious, humour is a subversive factor, breaking down obstacles and making others extra receptive to your message or viewpoint. Years in the past, a very drained, world-weary man got here into my exhibition, with an, ‘impress me in the event you can’ expression on his face. He trudged from portray to portray, unimpressed… that’s, till he got here to a portray of a person coated in tattoos with a row of pins in his brow, known as ‘Masochist’. It brought on him to burst out laughing! He then went again and seemed once more in any respect the work he had beforehand nearly ignored, now taking his time and responding to all of them. It confirmed for me the significance of humour in artwork.
AI applied sciences have lately created otherworldly photographs (utilizing artists’s work with out decide in, permission or compensation), however creating surprising surreal-like imagery. As painters who spend many hours to create one among a form works with fantastical surprising parts, we’re curious to listen to your tackle the usage of this expertise. Now we have heard and seen a number of artists feed their very own work into MidJourney to ideate their preliminary ideas, then paint them as remaining work, typically with out transparency. What are your ideas on this expertise and will fantastic artists disclose after they use it as a software (or crutch?)?
Alan: AI photographs do are inclined to initially look very spectacular, however rapidly develop into a bit samey and chilly. My work are an thrilling journey of discovery for me, so the thought of copying out a pc generated model onto the canvas could be arduous and boring compared. Nevertheless, if it may be used to assist produce what’s in any other case unimaginable, I can see how that could possibly be an thrilling strategy to develop portray sooner or later. As to disclosing when artists use it… I suppose artists must, however I think few will!
Carolynda: I haven’t truly delved an excessive amount of into this dialog, however it’s significantly topical with the current convention right here within the UK! As an artist’s software, it strikes me that if the inventive course of is partially handed over to pc software program it may simply develop into a crutch and will boring the artist’s personal creativeness. Disclosing its use, I suppose could be up the artist and I’m unsure how essential it’s so long as the portray works.
See extra of “When Two Worlds Collide,” an exhibition of current works by husband and spouse painters Carolynda Macdonald and Alan Macdonald at KP Initiatives by clicking their names.
