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ARTIST AND THE MACHINE: FT. DR. ALEX BOX
On AI for inspiration, unique AI art, reflections on the complexities and addictions of AI in artistry.
Dani Van de Sande
May 17, 2023
Happy Wednesday, Cyborgs.
With all this AI talk it feels like we’re all on some sort of futuristic roller coaster awaiting either humanity’s impending doomsday or extreme abundance...you’re not alone, btw - Snoop has all the feels, too.
Welcome to Artist and The Machine, a bi-weekly download of AI and culture. Each week we’ll feature an artist at the helm of today’s paradigm shift, highlighting the magical synergy between creator & technology.
THIS WEEK’S FEATURE: DR. ALEX BOX 👽
Meet beauty futurist and identity designer Dr. Alex Box - she’s lightyears ahead of the curve (like your friend that mined Bitcoin in 2013...) and has been exploring the relationship between our physical and virtual selves far longer than we’ve been messing around with Snapchat Filters.
Dr. Alex is the pioneer of an entirely new visual language across digital makeup, beauty, and identity, and has collaborated with the likes of Chanel, McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Issey Miyake, Frank Ocean, Robert Smith, Samsung, Magic Leap, and many many more.
Where the machines don’t know and abstractly create is where the magic happens for me
An internet memory
Interactive beauty app SPLASHBOX, which I made in 2008 using Microsoft Connect.
AI as muse
I prefer image-based AI as an inspirational and previs tool rather than a final outcome…it’s most exciting to me when it naively randomizes. I intentionally use vague and surreal prompts to drive an abstracted narrative of images. I find this to be a wonderful jumping off point, and deliberately drive for low-fi grainy as opposed to the high polished emerging AI aesthetic.
A beautiful dichotomy
I love my black and white series, for which I used a combination of AI and photoshop. It’s almost like historic folklore documentation, and it feels like a completely different voice and texture to what we understand as AI Art. The unknown space feels more naive and raw.
AI the helper
I see AI helping artists, if it’s part of the process. It’s another tool in the toolkit that allows free association and expansion into other media. The cross-pollination of AI systems creates exciting new opportunities to collaborate. Some reflections on the complexities and addictions of AI in artistry.
I just created a piece with musician Bishi where she fed ChatGPT my interviews on tech and translated it into Latin lyrics that she arranged into a choral oratory, I then used this to inspire a visual triptych for her.
If you’re still hungry for more, check out Finding Solace in the Age of AI and Can AI be trained as an artist?
ARTIST AND THE MACHINE is a newsletter on the latest in AI x culture, featuring one cutting-edge artist each week. Subscribe so you never miss an issue, and if you’re feeling inspired, please share with 2-3 friends!
About the Author
Hi there, thanks for reading! I’m Dani, and I was inspired to create Artist and The Machine from the belief that technology is about more than just utility - it has the power to unlock humanity’s creative potential.
I’ve been tinkering around with digital art, blockchain, and growth marketing since 2013, and have had the privilege of helping global brands such as Snap Inc, Whalerock, NARS, Chrome Hearts, Drake, Outside Media, Art Miami and many more navigate the space. I recently started ULO (short for Unidentified Landed Object), a next-gen agency and experience studio helping brands activate compelling use cases at the intersection of innovation and culture.