Imaginary Record Covers
Lesson 1. How to make Ai your bitch.
I wanted another reason to complain about the cultural apocalypse. You know, the siloing of our attention, the death of printed listings for art, music and film, and a deluge of streaming slop—Ai was such a natural target. I wanted to hate on it so hard. Where was the soul? The humanity? The images looked plastic and creepy with too many fingers and one eye veering in the wrong direction. Why? Just why? Why couldn’t they use technology to improve my email search experience? Instead we have all these extra fingers no one asked for, and an energy sucking monster that’s eating
And yet, I wanted to understand the monster, before it ate me. What was this one i’d monster all about? As an art schooler, I’ve had years of ingesting the BCs, the ADs, the classics, all the movements, and all the post-industrial everythings. I’ve filled my brain with impressions from books, galleries and museums from all over the world, all of which I devour for what I call, my original creative stew. They are a part of me now, and without them my mind would be a catalogue of grey place-holders. In some ways, I am an Ai trained on arty.
But let’s be clear, I know how to draw a human hand with less than twelve fingers. And that makes me the master. And Ai, my servant. Which is slightly less threatening than an Ai monster. After my deep dive into the hottest visual generators, I discovered what I hated the most about Ai, was that I actually liked it. As an artist who has had to push many pixels to earn a living in this digital age. I’ve resented having to learn to paint and draw with the ever shifting landscape of tools, often so complicated—it’s been like learning to pilot a jet when you were already born with wings. Again, why were “they” doing this to us? So, when I realized Ai was just a machine designed to do the heavy lifting for me, I got Ai curious. It’s like an e-bike for my imagination. Finally I got to feel like Jeff Koons, one of the great white males, who’s art could only have been made with a squad of talented helpers. That power is mine now; I am a giant with a team of interns (RISD-grad level) working for me for free.
Is it bad to like Ai like that? I’ll leave that an open question.
As the master of my team, this week I deliver the first of a very silly digital-meets analogue series by Ai & I, exclusively here on the B/Sider. So let’s sit back, relax and let the 21st century rip with: Imaginary Record Covers, 2024.
mod + Global Warming =
After The Befores, the 60s garage band most famous for their commitment to climate change through verse and vespa.
Space monster Rock
Dynobyte. A huge success in the South East Asian metal scene. Whatever they were going for, kittens and Godzilla made all the difference.
Disco plane crash
Set the mood to Kaboom, the 70’s disco vibe obsessed with the rising jungle heat. Despite their love for disaster themes, their ethos had nothing to do with climate change, or actual plane crashes.
