Original Doesn't Exist: n𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵

"The imaginary of Disneyland is neither true nor false, it is a deterrence machine set up in order to rejuvenate the fiction of the real in the opposite camp. Whence the debility of this imaginary, its infantile degeneration. This world wants to be childish in order to make us believe that the adults are elsewhere, in the "real" world, and to conceal the fact that true childishness is everywhere - that it is that of the adults themselves who come here to act the child in order to foster illusions as to their real childishness." - 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’.

June 2023