Artist’s statement

I have always been compelled to make art, although I rarely share the work.

I struggle with the transition from making art for others by solving problems as a commercial artist to making something meaningful for myself. Or, so I say. 

The reality is, I am constantly interrupting hikes to scrutinize the simplest things, hacking tools to do what they were never intended, and despairing the chaos of my studio. As a designer during several technological evolutions, I’ve watched the industry get upended by new technologies, watched artists adapt, watched entirely new skills emerge even as other areas wither to nothing.

I want to explore that further. While the debates rage on the ethics of generative AI (see my statement here), I want to see the world as it’s been encoded in the models. I want to see how the machine sees the world, see the randomness of it all, and explore what is the changing role of the artist when art becomes a filler, a confection, a commodity to be churned by the trillions.

I also despair at a plummeting societal attention, something that will only be worsened by the deluge of AI slop. People are increasingly uninterested in the physical world, they no longer see. Now, they no even longer glance; they barely glimpse under the relentless seeking of their thumbs. There is little delight in the commonplace, the mundane. I want to explore that.

How do these two motions intersect? What does it mean to me, as I age, see friends and family die, and realize that the only measure of a person is the love that they’ve fostered. How does this all fit together? That’s what I’m searching for, and maybe I do have something to say after all.