Stars & City Lights: Exploring Beauty Everywhere
This collection of artwork is an attempt to better understand beauty. Where can we find it, what is it, how can we create it, and why does it matter?
Each work is a collaboration between myself and Midjourney, an AI image generation tool. At times, the images created were exactly what I had in mind; at others, the AI created something more beautiful than what I envisioned. In either case, I hope to show the value of AI-generated art as a legitimate form of artistic endeavour.
A Moonlit Dance Between Man and God
This work showcases the synergistic beauty of a city when combined with nature, highlighting the possibility of fusing the beauty of nature with the beauty of human-made artwork.
The Starriest of Nights
With no human civilization to pollute the night sky, nature has an opportunity to present us with pure beauty. This work begins the first section of the exhibit, which showcases nature's uncorrupted beauty.
The Untouched Coastline of the New World
Inspired by the rocky bluffs of the Northern California coast, this work is a reminder of the unfathomable mass of nature's artistry, a scale which humans can never dream of replicating.
A Final Glimpse of Beauty
This work tells the story of an aging explorer, unable to return to his home after a lifetime of adventure. Determined to feel the peace of home once more, he reclines on his ironclad steamer to watch the Northern lights one last time.
Euclidean Divinity
Euclidean Divinity is a study of the geometric beauty present in the natural world. By using a low poly style, this work tries to capture the essence of the mountain's geometric design.
Incomprehensible
This work experiments with the idea that human perception is fundamentally limited. The workings of the universe are incomprehensibly complex.
Paris, afternoon, 1920
The second section of the exhibit demonstrates human-made artwork, beginning with the unrivaled urban beauty of the French capital.
Will we be forgiven if we sin again tonight?
This work seeks to appreciate the strange beauty that arises from artificial lights, an enclosed space, and chemically-altered states of mind.
Write, Damn You! Write!
"Just because I feel doesn't mean that I have the ability to express my feelings in my art. Perhaps the beauty of human feelings is far greater than the beauty of human art? And what if the same is true of the beauty of nature?"
Here I am, after all these years
This work is a reminder to seek beauty in faraway lands, and a reminder that there is always more beauty to be experienced.
The Beautiful Destruction of the World
"The eventual destruction of the world is a certainty. One can only hope that it will at least be beautiful."
Can we capture this beauty for our children?
The final section of the exhibit is about the innate drive to share beauty with our loved ones. This work is about a young couple in a beautiful setting, dreaming of the family they will one day raise. They feel a deep yearing to share this beauty with their unborn children, but they understand the inability of a polaroid picture to capture the full splendor of the moment.
How soon shall you forget?
"Long after the ice melts, I shall still remember this moment. And I hope that you will too."
The goal of this work is to show us the power of nature to instill memories, a fusion of the natural world with the human experience.
That we may one day stand here together
"Grant me this one moment with you, as but one instant among eternity, and from that second on, I shall no longer fear death."
The End