CrazyP̆̈ĕ̈p̆̈ĕ̈🫀🧠👁️

@CrazyPepeEth ∙ Published July 28, 2023

What’s your background and how did you get into AI art?

I started rather unexpectedly during the COVID lockdown in 2020. I’m actually a software developer by profession, have been since 2001. Source codes, debuggers, testing. Art was inexistent to me, until the pandemic when the paintbrush replaced the computer.

In the midst of all this, Dalle-2 came along, helping me fix and enhance some of my paintings. A simple tweak here and there, nothing too fancy. Yet, the world of AI and art were like magic, I got deeper and deeper on neural networks and diffusers.

Getting my hands dirty with various Jupyter notebooks, I realized the intriguing potential of combining AI with my physical artwork. It was chaos, exactly what I was looking for. So, here I am, lost and found in the chaotic magic of AI and physical art.

Do you have a specific project you’re currently working on? What is it?

Absolutely, I’m still contemplating the concept, idea, and execution! The project is a blend of art and technology. It’s a physical artwork that’s alive, interacting with its environment and responding to real-time data from APIs or Oracles. It’s destined to be a sensory artwork!

Primarily using Arduino, I aim to create a type of art that’s more than just visual – I believe in embracing growth, evolution, chaos, and entropy.

What drives you to create?

That’s a simple question: Rage, melancholy, the disheartening fallibility of humanity.

Every stroke is the world’s pain. It’s kind of my way of engaging in life, crying out, poking, and questioning. Art is my tears, my reaction to the surreal reality we’re all part of…

What does your workflow look like?

First, I choose my physical piece, then I take it to my trusted old Deforum Jupyter notebook, loaded up with OpenAI and Leonardo.ai APIs.

Finally, I set the notebook to run ‘X’ number of iterations with endless possibilities, according to what I want and desire.

Sometimes, when I feel like cheating, I reflect on how my notebook really rocks. Right now, it’s like my own assistant. The code I’ve added is my second brain.

What is your favorite prompt when creating art?

Actually, I have trained my AI Agent on my own work and poetry.

This Agent works in a Jupyter Notebook and is also injected into several other websites to help me build and run prompts.

The agent creates prompts based on a few ideas and keywords. It can generate endless prompts and run the notebook or interface.

All data is uploaded to a server that functions as a digital assets manager, where I can inspect, select, and clean the outputs. Additionally, this provides all the necessary data to improve the agent.

So, there’s no human prompting… As a developer, I always strive to optimize every step in my creative process.

How do you imagine AI (art) will be impacting society in the near future?

Well, I see AI in art as the junction where the physical and the digital worlds embrace each other. It’s like a new frontier, with endless opportunities for creative exploration.

AI is a tool, not a competitor. It amplifies our abilities, allowing us to explore and express in ways we couldn’t before. AI art is just a new tool in the ever-expanding artist’s toolbox.

Specifically, I’ve been working on combining my physical art with artificial intelligence. By training my own models with my creations, the AI breathes digital life into them, birthing new pieces that carry the essence of my original work, but are transformed into something unique by the AI.

The increasing accessibility of tools and APIs to create such art promises a future where everyone can incorporate AI into their own creative process.

Lastly, AI-created art, especially when linked to real-time or environmental data, can bring awareness to major societal issues in a way that is immediate, visceral, and hard to ignore. It can raise questions, initiate conversations, drive engagement - essentially everything we hope art would do.

In the end, it’s about letting the technology serve us, rather than becoming its servants. As artists, it’s up to us to master this new tool and see where the brush (or code) takes us.

Many assume that AI would rob art of the human touch, but I beg to differ.

Who is your favorite artist?

I am enamored with a traditional Ukrainian artist who is currently creating cyanotypes — an old photographic process — but she also masterfully handles brushes and strokes, creating beautiful religious icons.

I must mention my 12-year-old son, who introduced me to the world of art. His creativity is exceptional, and I wholeheartedly believe in him. I see a bright future ahead of him.

Then there is CustomHorror, a multifaceted artist working with traditional, digital, and AI mediums. His work defies the norm.

While there are countless incredible artists out there, these three are the ones who inspire me the most.

Anything else you would like to share?

Oh yes, I’d love to express my passion for this journey. Each day of painting, every AI algorithm, is a step into the abyss of discovery. It’s all so unpredictable and chaotic. Every creation is a scream of chaos and serenity. This journey isn’t for the weak or grifters, but for those who thrive in the inconsistent dance of existence and fading into oblivion.