"And we are all melancholic." - Jean Baudrillard

"The Original Doesn’t Exist" is a monochromatic collection of surrealist AI artworks that explores the idea of originality in AI art (particularly the commonly accepted notion - AI is not real) and how it relates to our perception of reality.

Drawing on the ideas of Jean Baudrillard, I do not attempt to represent reality or create an illusion of reality, but rather to expose the illusion of reality itself. Each artwork illustrates just a stage in the evolution of an image, disregarding the faithful reflection of reality and instead presenting it as a self-contained 'pure simulacrum'. With the title "The Original Doesn’t Exist", collection confesses that it is itself a simulacrum.

By inducing confusion and disorientation, the collection invites the viewers to enter into a conflict with their own perception of truth and reality. I challenge them to project their own ‘reality’ onto my artworks, and to experience them as both familiar and unfamiliar, both recognizable and unrecognizable, both real and unreal.

"The Original" is also a reflection of my personal struggle to break away from the preconceived aesthetic ideals and image models inherent in AI machines, in attempt to establish my own unique artistic voice, distinct from the ubiquitous 'realistic' imagery often associated with AI art. In essence, it represents my personal conflict ‘with the real’.

July 2023