Let the Voting Commence!
Vote for your favorite AI image and read updates on previous newsletters
In this issue, you get to vote for your favorite of the AI-generated images based on your keywords. Also, a mid-project review and some updates on previous newsletter subjects.
SIMULATION #2 - LET’S VOTE
I’ve been writing a lot lately about artists who make work to meet consumer demand and customers who want safe investment vehicles with subject matter geared toward their tastes. In the last newsletter, I addressed the potential for artificial intelligence to serve up endless versions of what we already like and asked for keywords pertaining to the things you love about art. (If you submitted more than one keyword or phrase, I selected whichever one I liked the most.) I then took those words and put them into DALLE*2 and created several images for you to vote on. I will create a digital piece of art using the winner, and it will only be available to the folks who voted. IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE FINAL MASTERPIECE, YOU MUST VOTE. THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS. And you must vote on or before February 6.
HOW THE IMAGES WERE CREATED: At first, I just dumped all the keywords in and got multiple versions of the below image. I feel that some keywords might be weighted more than others, and “abstract expressionism” might be given a lot of preference. I also think there was just too much input to get a clearly defined final image.
I then broke the keywords into 4 groups, and that went okay, but just putting the keywords in did not work nearly as well as entering sentences that clearly told the AI what I wanted to see. I created - after a lot of trial and error - four images I thought were really good. In the process of experimentation, there were two other ones thought the group would like, so I added them in as wild cards. When choosing images, I picked things I thought were visually interesting and not too weird or offensive. The goal of this is to create something appealing to lots of people, not the weird crap I’m into. In fact, my favorite image is not included in the voting. I will, however, create a little movie with it, and will post it here and on my Instagram for everybody to enjoy. (If enjoy is the right word for what people feel when they watch my movies.)
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Here are the images generated from your keywords. There will be a link below that will take you to the voting form where you will need to give your name and email address so I can send you to the finished piece of art. That email should go out by March 1st.
Here is the link to the voting form! Please choose your top three selections. Your favorite will get three points, your second favorite will get two points, and your third favorite will get one. The image with the most points will be the winner! I will announce the winner in a newsletter, BUT IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE PIECE OF ART I MAKE WITH IT, YOU WILL NEED TO VOTE ON OR BEFORE FEBRUARY 6. This final piece could be a book, a story, a video, a game, or whatever; I dunno yet. But there will be no exceptions; if you don’t vote, you will not get to see it.
MID-PROJECT REVIEW AND SOME UPDATES
We are halfway through this project! As a reminder, this business school simulation is my MFA thesis project, and I am collating the essays for my written paper. After this particular project ends, I’ll still be writing about art and business, but will add in other types of art essays, let people know about my projects, and probably use this newsletter to make art again - maybe like this simulation, maybe something totally different.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED: So far in this project, I have written essays on ultracontemporary speculation, art funds, artists and collectors who work together to create investment vehicles, and a few ways AI is affecting the arts ecosystems. I’ve done a ton of research, and I hope I’ve been able to explain things to you in a fun and approachable way. I’ve also explored different forms of art making - creating infographics, setting up simulations, ripping off Warhol and Kusama, and using education for more than informational purposes.
A few personal notes:
I find it distressing how many things are being made solely to fulfill consumer demand. I’m not interested in highbrow/lowbrow distinctions anymore but find myself looking more for any kind of work with a point of view. I’ve read trashy, formula-driven romances where the writers use genre conventions to explore interesting ideas about identity or ethics. I’ve also seen million-dollar pieces of fine art that have nothing to say beyond “please store your money in this visually pleasing container.”
Simulations are fun! I was worried no one would participate, but that has not been the case. I am so happy that people have been reading and simulating. THANK YOU!
I definitely want to keep writing as part of my practice, but I am also a studio artist and I miss making things. After I finish this project, I am going to try to be better about keeping that balance.
UPDATES: I have updates to previous newsletters!
Masterworks: I wrote about the art fund Masterworks in Let's Create an Art Fund! Angelica Villa wrote a great article for ARTnews at the end of last year about internal strife at Masterworks, and you should check it out. I will address a few points she brings up, but really, go read her article. She writes:
“Once an artwork is purchased, the Masterworks team is put on a ticking clock. Before the money can go from the company’s escrow account to the seller of the artwork, all the painting’s fractional shares must be sold. If a painting’s shares don’t sell out, the sale gets stuck in limbo. That’s why, at times, Masterworks has secured payment times as long as six months.”
Masterworks needs to sell shares, and they need to do so quickly, and according to former employees, they have been resorting to old-school boiler room tactics to do it. They are acting like aggressive financial salespeople with no internal oversight. The financial sector is highly regulated to protect investors, and Masterworks is not an art company, it is a financial one. If it gets caught violating rules, the fines could be steep. The lack of a strong human resources department also means that women and junior staffers are often treated poorly. It sounds like an unholy shit show! Read the article!
Amoako Boafo: I wrote about Boafo in October’s newsletter A Sale of Two Paintings. According to Tim Schneider on The Art Angle podcast, Boafo had work sell under his estimate at auction last November. What does that mean? When an auction house puts something up for auction they provide an estimated range to give prospective buyers an idea of what the piece might go for. (This is something that can be manipulated for marketing purposes, btw.) It is great when things go over the estimate because it makes that artist’s market look smokin’. But when an artist sells at the low end or below their estimate, it can be a function of many things: the work was mispriced, the work was put on sale at the wrong time, the desire for that artist’s work is softening, or the whole art market is being kinda sad. I looked to see what sale Schneider was talking about, and I assume he is referring to Pink Shorts (2019), a painting that sold for $403,200 with an estimate of between $400,000 - 600,000. This looks to be right at the low-end - not under, but another source also indicated it was below estimate, so there may be something I do not understand or see. (NOTE: I figured it out. The numbers I was looking at included fees.) Either way, it’s not a great look. Boafo had other sales within or above estimate after that, but they were all oil-on-paper which sell for less money than fancy oil-on-canvas paintings like Pink Shorts. I don’t know what this means for his long-term prospects, but it’s an interesting piece of data to keep an eye on.
Further Reading:
https://news.artnet.com/multimedia/the-art-angle-podcast-4-predictions-2023-2242038