Still Life
Anna Soper – 2022
In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a useful—though controversial—tool for artists and illustrators alike. Using written prompts (such as “a cat painted in the style of Monet”), AI is capable of designing images across a range of styles, from hyper-realistic to abstract.
Still Life explores a collection of botanical images generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Using prompts written by Anna Soper, the AI creates a series of plant forms. Some resemble tulips or poppies, while others emerge as indecipherable wisps. Soper feeds these images into a plant identification app, seeking to classify their fanciful designs as real plant species.
Through a series of “found images”, Soper has created a complex feedback loop between two separate AI systems. In a playful body of work, each system is in dialogue with the other, mediated by the artist.
Still Life was on display in the State of Flux Gallery from September 17, 2022 to November 5, 2022.
Photos by Chris Miner and Andrei Pora.
About the Artist
Anna Soper
Anna Soper is a visual artist and librarian from Kingston. Soper has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from OCAD University, where she was awarded the OCAD University Medal and the Canon Canada Prize in 2011. In 2016, Soper graduated from Western University with a Master of Library and Information Science degree. Soper’s work is inspired by environmental history, alternative and historical photographic processes, and the intersections of science and art.