Category: art
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Embracing the Weird
When people think of AI-generated images, “weird” is one of the first words that come to mind. That’s not a bad thing. As a matter of fact, the weirdness is what I love best. Not just the deliberately odd combinations of styles, characters, and periods. But the unexpected bizzaro strangeness of unforeseen results. The best…
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Digital Folk Artists
Folk Art: Art and objects made by people who are not artists, using styles and materials from where they live The Museum Network I was very involved in the Second Life art community twenty years ago. Most of the people I met there were actively producing images, videos, and creative writing for the first time in…
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Artists and Dinosaurs
Fighting disruptive technology is a hopeless battle. This year’s rapid evolution of generative AI tools portends that those who don’t use them will eventually be obsoleted in many creative commercial niches. Disgruntled artists opting out won’t make a substantive difference. Even if their portfolios collectively total a million works, they’re just a fraction of a…
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Be the Mystery You Seek to Kill
EVERY post we share on a social network is a Selfie. The continuous stream of perpetual personal branding truncates the vast wonder of a living being into shiny little shareable boxes. Our identities are formed through feedback loops between our visceral sense of self and the reflecting chamber of the external world. There is an…
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A Cautionary Fable of Obsessive Creativity
Although prudence recommends the lowest effective dose, Dr. Muse always prescribes the highest nonlethal option. Once upon a time, a young man named Redacted was known for his obsessive creative drive. He was an artist, musician, and writer and spent every spare moment creating. As time went on, he became obsessed with his creative Muse,…
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Matryoshka Madness
Humans are creative geniuses who are able to take isolated pieces of sensory information and transform them into detailed mental models of the world. These mental models are often experienced as objective reality. The process of creating these mental models is similar to the process of creating a homeopathic preparation, where the original substance is…
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The Court Jester’s Guide to Political Satire
As the court jester appointed to the United States Congress, let me tell you, these politicians’ constituents are in dire need of a good laugh. And who better to provide it than me? When the new law requiring Congress to appoint a court jester was passed, I was ecstatic. Finally, I would have the opportunity…
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Declaration of OMG!
OMG, like, we’ve been living under British rule for, like, forever, and it’s just not working for us anymore. We’ve been trying to, like, make it work, but the King is just, like, not listening to us or our rights. So we’re, like, totally breaking up with Britain and declaring our independence. I know, I…
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A Clear and Present Danger
Did you know that the FBI ranks White Nationalists and Neo-Nazis at the same threat level as ISIS? Although the FBI has a checkered past in politicizing targets, just an hour browsing GAB Social, an uncensored social network catering to right-wing extremists, makes it seem like those hate groups should stand shaved heads and shoulders…
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