Romare Bearden, Mechanical Reproduction & Generative AI
One of my recent book cover art commissions was released by the author on social media (see below) and someone commented/asked whether or not the original artists were credited since it’s “AI Art”. Part of my response was to ask this question: Did Romare Bearden credit the original photographers in his collage work?
Since high school, I’ve taken inspiration from Romare Bearden to create collages. Bearden used Photostat machines and film projectors to make large-scale photo reproductions. Photostats, which were introduced in the early 1900s, makes copies of ‘graphic matter’ photographically on sensitized paper. Bearden made a practice of copying, redrawing, and reworking his images. Mechanical reproduction was a key stage of his process and today we use other kinds of machines: computers.
The other part of my response described my process, which included the use of collage as an image prompt. My current process typically begins with collage using imaging software, this includes the use of my prior artworks and photos but includes other sources. In Midjourney you can use images as part of a prompt to influence a job’s composition, style, and colors. Images prompts can be used alone or with text prompts. I upload my collages to Midjourney, and add text prompt that use descriptive words such as culturally diverse elements made of beads and yarn, multi-layered collages in the style of intricate psychedelic landscapes. This image (below) was created using the same text prompt as the book cover art.
0 Comments