AI Art - a new business model
I've opened an Etsy shop for my AI Pregnancy Vases work.
It feels strange opening a shop for AI, since AI has such a heavy hand in the final image. But the prompt is important in evoking a style to your images, and then there is the selection process… Many, many, many images have to be generated in order to obtain an image that is a) bodily well formed; b) aesthetically pleasing; c) not overly simple; and d) carries the theme of your prompt well.
For this project, I have been trying to communicate the beauty in both the pregnant state, and also the beauty of the unborn child. I felt the vase and flower was apt as a representation of this beauty.
With thousands of iterations, I have been able to settle upon maybe 20 images so far. A few of these I have put up as Limited Editions of 1 (apart from an Artist Proof), where the buyer and myself will be the only ones in the world to own the print. I feel that this business model is the way forward for prints in the AI age, since each print generated is unique, but the vast majority of iterations are unusable, or severely lacking in artistic merit. With this model, it is like Pokémon, with people seeking the "rares", except in this case, the rares are decided by the one who generates. So, great images are far from being a foregone conclusion.
Another part of the process that feels strange for me is letting go of my photography ideas. Primarily, I wanted my art going forwards to be pro-life photographic images, but my situation at home means this really isn't possible in the short term. I could be waiting years, and the new thrust in the pro-life movement is happening now. The dehumanisation of the most fragile among us, the unborn, is very real, and the Roe Vs Wade overturning gives an opportunity to persuade people that the past 50 years has been a mistake, with 63,000,000 in the United States alone having been killed. This is an immense atrocity, and very similar to genocide. Of course, these words are considered extreme in today's climate, but this is only because, due to its legality for so long, people have ceased to question abortion morality, and *maybe* there is an element of double-think at play, since I feel that deep, deep down, a lot of people must know it is wrong. With this in mind, I hope that I can be one of the many who fights the prevailing rhetoric. Doing this through art is just a small measure of course, but I am limited in time thus far. I hope to be able to do more in future.
Despite this project being pro-life, I haven't tagged this in my Etsy store… Why is this? Well, I initially set up a few months back uploading a few pro-life cards, with pro-life explicitly stated on the photos. However, I felt like I was profiteering of a movement that shouldn't really be profited off, so I pulled the listings down very quickly. I'm still unsure of whether this was the right thing to do… With this latest Pregnancy Vases project, I'm hoping to at least place the seed that life is indeed a beautiful truth to be treasured and nurtured, when many are arguing the opposite. If people want to read into a little more of what I stand for, then they can.
My Etsy shop can be found at:
AlmosLataanArt at Etsy