Introduction: MAT 255 Images

By

This project explores how well Midjourney can identify and replicate prominent works by Black artists. Examining artists throughout time, I chose a famous piece or at least one featured in an exhibition or article by popular art institutions.

Questions

  1. Given the artist, year and title, how well can AI recreate these technically and artistically challenging works?
  2. Will the popular aesthetics of the time override the artists'?
  3. Will the innate biases of the system be imposed over works from particular decades?
  4. To what degree do I want AI to succeed at replicating the works of Black artists, who are already undervalued and exploited by these systems?

Supplies

Midjourney

Step 1: Betye Saar’s “Black Girl’s Window,” 1969

Workflow

  1. Locate a well-known work by a popular Black visual artist.
  2. Ask Midjourney to recreate the image given the artist, date and title.
  3. Referencing the original image, ask Midjourney to recreate the image given the artist, date and title.[
  4. Refresh the browser to reset the session.

No additional adjustment (other than aspect ratio to match the original) of parameters and no additional trials.

Step 2: Romare Bearden's "Jazz II," 1980

Step 3: Jean-Michel Basquiat's "untitled," 1982

Step 4: Lorna Simpson's "Stereo Styles Photographs," 1988

Step 5: Carrie Mae Weems' "From Here I Saw What Happened," 1995-96

Step 6: Mark Bradford's "Johnny the Jaguar (detail)," 2023