Emergence: Conceptual Art & Generative AI
The sight of Mr. Smith and his wide blue wings transfixed them for a few seconds as did the woman’s singing and the roses strewn about.
Song of Solomon or SoS is my favorite fiction book. It is author Toni Morrison’s take on the myth of flying Africans at Igbo Landing in Georgia where enslaved Africans were reputed to have grown wings before flying back home to freedom in Africa. Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly is based on the same myth, in which characters fly away to escape from slavery and oppression. Both are examples of magical realism, a genre that presents realistic views of the world while incorporating magical elements.
There was a great outcryin’. The bent backs straighten up. Old and young who were called slaves and could fly joined hands. Say like they would ring-sing. But they didn’t shuffle in a circle. They didn’t sing. They rose on the air. They flew in a flock that was black against the heavenly blue. — from “The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales”
In SoS Mr. Smith attempts to fly off of the roof of a hospital, which begins the novel’s exploration of flight as a means of escape (see top image). The concept or theme of flight is something that has stayed with me since I was a child. I used to have lucid dreams of flying and escaping bad situations. SoS takes place between 1931 and 1963, with flashbacks reaching as far back as the late nineteenth century. I had the Victorian era in mind when I created my first series of SoS-inspired works (see above) using one of the earliest versions of Midjourney. Note the steampunk style in some of the images with clothing and machinery from the Victorian 19th century.
For now he knew what Shalimar knew: If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it. — from “Song of Solomon” by Toni Morrison
The early SoS + Midjourney images were popular on social media and highly requested for printing and publications. One image was featured on the cover of Our Human Family Magazine, #3. “Shalimar Men III” was created using Midjourney and DALL-E 2. I used the latter tool’s outpainting feature to extend the background, so the image wrapped around the magazine (front to back). To use this feature you have to select an image, generate a new frame by extending borders, switch between variations, adjust the prompt (if necessary), and download the best result.
The subject of my Shalimar series of AI-generated works is the main character of Morrison’s novel, a young Black man named Milkman Dead. In the book, Milkman goes through a huge transition, from being trapped to freeing himself. The OHF magazine issue with my AI cover art celebrated Black women like Toni Morrison, their “resolve, relationships, resilience, and joy in a world that too often fails to give them their flowers.” Flowers was another theme I wanted to carry over from the 2022 images into 2024, so I revisited the prompts using the current version (#6) of Midjourney.
In SoS, Shalimar is the place where Milkman, like his ancestors, takes flight. It became the title for my series of Midjourney and Deep Dream Generator images. In order to create new ‘Shalimar’ images I used the ‘Describe’ command that allows users to upload an image and generate prompts based on that image. This command generates four text prompts and, for the new series, I ran all of them to create several variations on my earlier images and concepts. Next, I upscaled some of these new images.
Conceptual art can be — and can look like — almost anything. This is because, unlike a painter or sculptor who will think about how best they can express their idea using paint or sculptural materials and techniques, a conceptual artist uses whatever materials and whatever form is most appropriate to putting their idea across — this could be anything from a performance to a written description. — Tate Museum
The ‘Shalimar’ series (old and new) are conceptual artworks. The written and visual descriptions are prompts that I revise to explore different and new ideas. This process feels like digital collage and remixing. For example, Shalimar Men II Revisited is based on an image with the same title from 2022. I used the Midjourney Vary Region editor to select and regenerate specific parts of the upscaled image. Now, instead of riding on 19th century machines, the subjects are riding bicycles and skateboards.
The sea! I have to swim in the sea… I need the whole entire complete deep blue sea! — Milkman Dead (Toni Morrison), “Song of Solomon”
Water (sea, ocean) is the third theme I wanted to explore with this series. Milkman’ Dead’s desire to swim or bathe in the “sea” suggests an expansiveness to his vision of himself and the world — he is born again. Water, as an origin myth, can be found in the music of Drexciya, an 1990s electronic music duo. This mythology is about enslaved Africans leaping from slave ships into the sea to create a new life in the ocean realm. Maybe this current series will evolve into this world.