Robot arm creates traditional Chinese ink painting

Robot arm creates traditional Chinese ink painting

in 2018 Christie’s organized his first auction for a work of art created by artificial intelligence (AI), which for $ 432.500 . However, the multimedia artist Victor Wong, based in Hong Kong, kept the painting-a blurred oil painting of a man-for anything but revolutionary. "It imitates completely human work, it was nothing else," said Wong.

ai gemini: a milestone in art

The creative person who has a degree in electrical engineering and whose work ranges from special effects in films ranges to art technology installations to sculptures decided to create something unique. His work of art, Ai Gemini, is a robot setup controlled by Artificial Intelligence that creates traditional Chinese landscape painting-"The first artificial ink artist in the world", so The 3812 Gallery that represents Wong. (Ai Gemini has no connection to Google's generative AI chatbot of the same name).

the functioning of Ai Gemini

ai Gemini uses a robot arm acquired and reprogrammed on the Internet, to which a brush is attached. An algorithm interprets data records according to Wong's requirements and controls the robot arm to paint the contours of mountains on Xuan paper-a thin rice paper that is traditionally used in painting.

A series of paintings, inspired by Chinas lunar rover From a public 3D moon map from NASA. Wong has also used data such as stock prices whose fluctuations can be interpreted as mountains and valleys.

The color selection is based on deep learning and training in the traditional squid landscape painting, whereby the amount of water depends on the changes in humidity, explains Wong. It takes about eight to ten hours to produce a painting about one meter tall.

exhibitions and successes

Since the introduction of Ai Gemini, Wong has held exhibitions in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei and London. He reports that his paintings were sold to private collectors for about $ 20,000 and that he carried out projects for companies such as the Hongkger Airline Cathay Pacific.

ink landscape painting has a tradition in China. Wong is convinced that the combination of human ideas with the possibilities of technology enables him to "create something that has not yet existed."

The controversy about Ki-Kunst

The use of AI for creating works of art is controversial. At the beginning of the year, over 6,500 people signed a in which she wrote to christie’s new York asked to cancel a sale that concentrated exclusively on art created by AI- The first of its kind Auction house. The sale, which took place anyway, achieved $ 729,000 .

critics claim that AI art lacks originality and artists complain that they are based on copyrighted images. However, Wong does not use AI generated pictures directly. Instead, he wrote an algorithm to imitate how the works of the masters are created.

innovation meets art

"The paintings that Ai Gemini and I create are original," says Wong, but notes that visitors call his exhibitions occasionally: "This is not art!"

Other experimenting with the connection of robotics and art. A humanoid robot called AI-DA is controlled by AI to create paintings, and the artist Sougwen Chung has trained robot to paint with her on large screens.

Wong believes in innovation as a creative force. "Technology and art have never been separated," he emphasizes, referring to the invention of the brush, which was spread in ancient China at the time of the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and enabled art forms such as calligraphy.

In the 15th century, artists such as Leonardo da Vinci used innovative techniques such as the linear perspective, a mathematical system that creates perspective in drawings and paintings with convergent lines.

"The masters always have a secret recipe to produce their work," says Wong. "You always use the latest technology of your time."

The inclusion of artificial intelligence into art is only a continuation of the trend for him, and he is convinced that this is inevitable. "AI has become part of life, and people cannot really accept it in art," said Wong. "But you can't escape the AI."