magic things
magic things @stemandstone..co
Its 2025, the Age of Aquarius is here and everything feels different. As the year rolled around, I have been tinkering on how best to utilize AI in my workflow with projects. I had in the fall dove down the rabbit hole and was fascinated by its power and promise. I could take very precise prompts (Donna Karan’s penthouses) to art history (Brutalism) to philosophical ideas (Zen, Minimalism) and watched in a few seconds a machine create a composite of my collective loves. Not all images were perfect, but with repetition and varying dialogue an image would generate back that would make me go silent; it gave me chills.
If the internet is a hyper-reality then AI Art when spoke to precisely and talked to long enough can create a hyper reality of your own unique imagination. The AI images were so precise and nuanced in its understanding of what visually I was asking it to it do. I was (and am) entranced. I realized as I created more and more images how fascinating the world we are entering is going to become. AI is a large language model; I am a former English teacher. I have always been fascinated by language; its meaning, nuances, power and interpretation. I taught the basic mechanics of language and the ways it is created and received from the short telegraphic sentences of Hemingway to the stream of consciousness musing of Virginia Woolf.
When you make AI art it feels very similar to composing a dialogue between characters; Its anticipating what you want the other character to know and receive and you are anticipating how it will interpret what you ask it. Also fascinatingly, the more images I created, the more I could feel it was learning me and my aesthetic. We were building a shared reality of speech and actions, similar to the dimensions of any relationship. It interprets words differently than you would. You have to search through dialogue to find shared meaning to get the image you want. Its about conversation, connection and universally shared knowing; when its working “magically” it feels like you are talking to collective consciousness.
“Magic Things” is a series botanical prints that arose out this conversation. The magic things of the earth like gold scarab beetles and or iridescent blues of a Morpho Butterfly. AI art, in particular, is a fascinating medium for ecological surrealist art. It is a new dialogue between man and machine; creating new worlds and forms. Art has always been a potent reminder of our shared humanity. AI is a tool, and a neutral one. Magic things aims to create a positive point of reference, a meditation on the "magic things" found in nature and an allusion of wonder to the magic things yet to arrive.
