RECOMMENDED: Duane Keiser on AI and Painting

This is about Duane Keiser and his recent writing about AI and Painting - and provides the first real insight I've read into the issues and problems with reproducing art using AI.

Two recent innovations in the realm of art are NFTs and AI - except that neither are art: Put simplistically:

• NFTs are digital tokens (akin to currency NOT art!) - see my blog post last year about What is art? (legally speaking)
• AI stands for Artificial Intelligence which is a machine learning way of creating "more of the same" using machine algorithms. (An algorithm is a procedure used for solving a problem or performing a computation).
  

The art market seems to think AI and NFTs are the way forward for lots of people to make lots of money.

Duane Keiser on AI

Duane Keiser has been writing recently on his blog about the advent of AI and whether it is a serious rival to painting 'for real'. 

It's the result of doing some serious research.

Over the last few months, I've been researching and experimenting with AI to better understand it (I gained early access to the more well-known AIs). In my next few articles, I'll be writing about what I've learned about AI as it relates to art and painting, and where it might be going.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND a read of his blog posts if you want to grasp what AI and art is and what problems it encounters. It's a well structured series which introduces the notions of AI and where it comes from and then presents a series of experiments he has conducted in AI.

I've extracted short quotes from each to demonstrate what they are about as I know the whole concept of AI will be very new to most of you.

To read his blog posts just right click the titles and open in a new tab.

• pAInting 

As I read some of the reactions to AI, I'm reminded of what the French painter Paul Delaroche said in the 1800s upon seeing one of the first photographs: "From today, painting is dead."

• ChatGPT

It feels like AI developers have gone from pen and ink, to the Gutenberg Press, to the internet in a matter of weeks. The advancements are hard to keep up with, much less fully understand. In terms of tech revolutions, I’ve never seen anything like it. Not even close.

Before I get to my experiences with image-based AI, I thought it would be helpful to start with an introduction to text-based AI, specifically ChatGPT.

• The Woman in the White Dress - in which Duane reveals his experiments with AI and the images and results he (and AI) generated. I was absolutely riveted by this read and recommended it on FB straight away - and found that others were also very interested in what he had to say

The AI is not just a craftsman who dutifully follows orders. It is a collaborator in the true sense of the word— it makes conceptual contributions to your project (whether you like them or not.) The output always comes with surprises. In other words, the AI cannot be corralled into recreating the exact image you have in your head. This, as you may have already discovered, can feel like herding cats.

Duane Keiser on AI - The Woman in the White Dress

Then it got really interesting....

LAOTY Winners - Where are they now?

There have been five female winners and three male winners of Landscape Artist of the Year and this post is an update about who they are and what's happened since.

If you want to add yourself to this list, NOON on Monday is the deadline for entries to Series 9.

Series Winners

The winners of the different series of Landscape Artist of the Year are as follows

• Series 1 (2015) - Nerine McIntyre who paints under her maiden name of Nerine Tassie
• Series 2 (2016) - Richard Allen
• Series 3 (2017) - Tom Voyce
• Series 4 (2018) - Jen Gash
• Series 5 (2019) - Fujiko Rose
• Series 6 (2021) - Ophelia Redpath
• Series 7 (2022) - Elisha Enfield
• Series 8 (2023) - Finn Campbell-Notman

So where are they now?

The review below indicates that many of the winners have continued to develop strong series of artwork in their own personal styles.

It's possibly worth asking yourself, before you enter, whether you have a clear style and themes to your artwork.

 

Nerine McIntyre (2015)

Nerine McIntyre paints under her maiden name of Nerine Tassie.  She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2002 with a degree in Fine Art.

Natural spaces and forms provide the basis and inspiration for her work, in particular the coastal waters and woodlands around her home. These landscapes are ever changing and at times daunting and they provide infinite subject matter for her work. Her paintings are primarily an exploration of the mystery of nature within this subject matter and she says she has always sought to create a strong sense of atmosphere and connection to place within her work.

Since winning in 2015, her website indicates she has been very active in exhibiting each year - with a number of different galleries - and that her landscapes are typically isolated, dark and sombre.

Recent work by Nerine Tassie

Website: https://www.nerinetassie.com/

Richard Allen (2016)

Richard Allen attended Central Saint Martins College in London as a Fine Art (Painting) student, continuing his studies there at post graduate level. In 2016, Richard Allen won the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year. As part of his prize he undertook a number of commissions for the National Trust.

Richard Allen's paintings combine unflinching scrutiny of the subject with bravura mark-making. Whilst there is a playfulness in the occasional use of ephemera and images within images (still-life paintings of photos and postcards, scenes assembled from virtual reality) there is also an commitment to the act of observation, the act of painting and making an intensified version of reality.

He has also worked as an illustrator 

• winning several international accolades (Association of Illustrators golds, Society of Illustrators LA gold, Society of Illustrators NY silver, 3x3, Commarts), 
• working with many well-known clients including the New Yorker, The NY Times, Esquire, and most high-profie UK and US newspapers and magazines. 
• In 2017 he won the V&A Illustration prize, winning the Editorial Illustration award and the Moira Gemmill Memorial prize for Illustrator of the Year. 
• In May 2019 he won the V&A Award for Illustrated Journalism.

He has exhibited with various galleries and some open exhibitions. His work is held in public and private collections internationally.

His website indicates he paints more portraits than landscapes.

Website: https://richard-allen.com/

Instagram: arichardallen

Tom Voyce (2017)

Born 1989 in the UK. Tom Voyce is a British painter whose subject matter comprises of a variety of different themes such as interiors and semi abstracted landscapes, often within the notion of place and transit. He also teaches workshops.

To me, there's more than a bit of a hint of Richard Diebenkorn.

"In Transit" Series by Tom Voyce

Website: https://tom-voyce.com/

Instagram: tomvoyce_art

Twitter: tomvoyce_art

Jen Gash (2018)

The RBA Rome Scholarship and the Rising Stars exhibit at the Royal Overseas League

Rising Stars is an initiative associated with the Royal Society of British Artists Rome Scholarship. This exhibition, at the Royal Overseas League, is one of the benefits for 40 artists competing for the annual RBA Rome Scholarship.

Rising Stars - part of the exhibition

The Rome Scholarship

The Rome Scholarship is limited to figurative art in painting, drawing, printmaking or sculpture

Thanks to a special bursary, The Rome Scholarship is open to artists aged 18-35 who live, work or study in the UK.

The call for entries for the Rome Scholarship 2023 closed earlier this year. Those entering have to provide six images of recent work to be provided together with a completed application form (and a very nominal fee). 

The prizes vary

Semi Finalists

• Forty semi-finalists will have a work in the RBA’s RISING STARS Exhibition, which takes place in April 2023 at the Royal Over-Seas League in Mayfair, London

Finalists

• Three finalists will have a work in the RBA’s Annual Exhibition at Mall Galleries in 2024
• The two runners-up will also receive a prize of £250 each

Winner of the Rome Scholarship

The Scholarship offers:

• September 2023: Four weeks accommodation at Sala Uno, a highly prestigious gallery and international arts centre in the heart of Rome
• Staying in a self-contained apartment, situated within a wonderful and extensive walled garden in the grounds of the gallery
• Studio space which will be available within the gallery
• Two meals per day, provided at a nearby restaurant
• Return flights to Rome
• £1000 prize money

Rising Stars Exhibition at the Royal Overseas League

You too can view this exhibition at the Royal Overseas League in St. James. Admission is free and the exhibition is open to the public between 10am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

The exhibition opened earlier this week and is on until 2nd July 2023.

View of the artwork around the stairwell

For those who cannot get to see it - and particularly for those who might be interested in a submission for the 2024 Rome Scholarship - I've also uploaded some photos I took yesterday to an album on my Facebook Page.

RBA RISING STARS, produced in partnership with the Royal Society of British Artists, showcases the extraordinary talent of 40 artists shortlisted for RBA Rome Scholarship 2023.

This exhibition captures creativity in the moment and showcases the trajectory of what is yet to come in contemporary art practice from the relative viewpoint of the present day. Amongst other awards for the finalists is a one-month residency at Sala Uno, an arts centre in the heart of Rome. The history of this collaboration with ROSL, which hosts the work of young artists aged 35 and under, began in 2017 and acknowledges the depth of emerging talent present across the UK in figurative forms of contemporary art.

The artworks I liked the most

So what follows is not official - it's just my view! 

Best artwork

By a country mile in my view. 

EXTENSION of Deadline for Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 9)

Do not fear! The deadline for the Call for Entries for the next Series (9) of Landscape Artist of the Year is not tomorrow. 

REJOICE! The deadline has been extended until noon on Monday 1st May 2023.

If you paint landscapes regularly you've still got time to enter!

They do this - extended the deadline - every single year.

Normally I read this as meaning that 

1. they've had a look at all the applications they've received to date and 
2. they are short of decent calibre artists for the pods.

So if you fancy having a go, you've got all of the weekend and the morning of the Bank Holiday on Monday to get your submission together - even if you've not done anything about it to date!! :)

How to Enter

You can read all the details about the Call for Entries which covers:

• who can enter
• terms & conditions
• eligible landscape paintings for your entry
• how to complete your digital entry

in my blog post about the Call for Entries: Landscape Artist of the Year 2024 (Series 9) (published December 2022)

I cannot emphasise enough HOW IMPORTANT THE SUBMISSION LANDSCAPE IS. This is the painting that:

• gets you into the competition;
• counts as part of the assessment of how you might deliver a commission - given there is no limit on the amount of time required for your submission painting
• decides whether or not you will be a Heat Winner i.e. it will be lined up alongside your heat painting if you get in a pod and get shortlisted to determine who wins
• goes to the Semi Finals and the Finals - should you get that far - and 
• counts as part of the process for deciding the overall winner

In other words it's never ever JUST the Heat Painting which decides how you progress in the competition.

My blog post also includes

• a commentary on the very particular nature of the Landscape Artist of the Year competition
• how to paint a landscape in 4 hours
• why Sky Arts really needs to upgrade the competence of the people in the pods or get better at picking good people (because some are regularly outperformed by the wildcard artists who weren't selected for a pod!)

Don't forget that only the pod artists who get some expenses and it's entirely possible you could be out of pocket if you decided to be a pod artist.

The Series 9 Heats will be filmed around the UK on the following dates

• Heats One and Two: in the week commencing 12th June 2023
• Heats Three and Four: in the week commencing 19th June 2023
• Heats Five and Six: in the week commencing 26th June 2023
• in July(?) 2023 re. the Semi Finals, Finals (and Commission?)

If you get a wildcard spot there's no guarantee that the heat you're allocated to is one near your home. Last year people were flying out to Northern Ireland!

RI Annual Exhibition 2023: Analysis of art sales metrics and pricing artwork for the future

This is my third post about pricing in recent art society exhibitions. Today it's about the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) Annual Open Exhibition 2023 at the Mall Galleries in London in April 2023. 

The exhibition is the biggest exhibition of watercolours in the UK. This is my review of the exhibition Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Annual Exhibition 2023 in which I indicated I'd be doing this exhibition metrics post after the exhibition had closed.

Sales for this exhibition take place:

• during the exhibition - to visitors
• online - before, during and after the exhibition in the Mall Galleries

Below you can find charts I've produced from a lot of careful counting of artworks hung in the exhibition and which ones sold.

Plus some fairly robust comments.....

Exhibition Metrics: Artwork Exhibited and Artworks Sold

The purpose of the post is to illustrate some points about pricing which I've been making for some time - which are again underlined by the results I got from my analysis

This post considers three aspects

• the number of artworks exhibited and sold in each price range - analysed between member and non-member artworks
• observations on sales - in different price bands - for both members and non-members.
• pricing lessons for:
• the RI and Mall Galleries
• member artists
• artists selected via the open entry - when entering in 2024.

My charts reveal

• which are the most popular price bands for sales.
• which price bands have the most unsold work!

There are a number of important points - about which I'll comment more below - which, in summary are:

• Price point hurdles are VERY important determinants of sale 
• Affordable art sells well
• There's an effective ceiling limit at the Mall Galleries - above which few artworks will sell
• Excessive prices rarely generate sales for unknown artists - you need to be aware of the audience an exhibition attracts
• Expensive artworks are harder to sell during a period of economic uncertainty

All/any pricing ALWAYS needs to take economic context into account. This is particularly relevant to some members who normally sell and sold no work in this exhibition.

I'm uploading larger versions of my pricing/sales charts to a post about them on my Facebook Page.

Overall:

• 449 artworks were selected for hanging in the exhibition
• 68 artworks sold - represented 18% of the artwork hung
• open artists sold more artwork than RI members
• 40 by RI members (17% of artwork hung)
• 43 by artists selected from the Open Entry (20% of artwork hung)
• most sales were for less than £1,500 - which has been a really important hurdle price for a very long time.

[NOTE: This post has been corrected for an error I made which I spotted this morning in the comments immediately after the first chart - and updated.] 

What proportion of artwork sold - across different price ranges?

Two price ranges saw the most sales - and there were few sales after £1,500

RI Annual Exhibition 2023
Comparison of total numbers of artworks sold and exhibited

• Under £500: 36% of artworks hung sold - and most of these relate to small/smaller artworks by open entrants
• £501-£750: 24% of artwork hung sold - again mostly in relation to smaller artworks

This is not untypical of what happens in an economic context of uncertainty such as 

• the current cost of living crisis and 
• concern around increases in interest rates - which has NOT abated (i.e. this applies to all upcoming exhibitions too)

Exactly the same thing happened when we had the banking crisis in 2008 - which is when I started monitoring prices and sales. Sales were much better at the "affordable art" end and basically sales crashed among the more expensive price ranges. Interestingly I could spot established artists on the wall who had learned the hard lessons of 2008 and adjusted what they submitted accordingly. (In 2009 we had a LOT of "play it safe during the recession" exhibitions and this is what I've been expecting to see this year)

Other observations which can be made are:

• the first four price ranges have a similar number of artworks hung
• however the number of sales in the first four price ranges DIMINISH as the price rises
• after £1500 (a VERY important price hurdle observed by me in numerous FBA exhibitions)
• the numbers of artworks hung drop off dramatically
• the drop in sales is even more dramatic
• only 6 artworks sold above £1500
• nobody sold above £5,000

I am absolutely certain there are artists who would have sold or sold more if they'd had better information about 

• how sales work relative to prices in these galleries - and 
• how best to price in relation to price hurdles
• how best to price in a time of economic uncertainty

What are the price hurdles?