Algorithm art fetches $432,500 at NY auction

[tangor]

A portrait made by algorithm smashed new boundaries Thursday, selling for $432,500 and becoming the first piece of Artificial Intelligence art sold at a major auction house, Christie's said.

[yahoo.com...]

Coming soon:

"AI Webstie Smashes Way to Serp 0!"
"The website, created by AI, out performs human curated sites by an order of magnitude. Webmasters in chaos."

[keyplyr]

Algorithm art fetches $432,500

I wouldn't pay over $432,499.

That's the thing about art though isn't it? The value is determined by what someone will pay for it.

I've stood in front of several hugely valuable paintings and could never really see it, but someone does.

The AI algo driven piece probably got that price mainly because of the novelty.

Too bad the Yahoo article doesn't actually show the portrait "of a gentleman dressed in black and framed in gold." The photo is just some code editor.

[robzilla]

Here's an image of the "painting": [gannett-cdn.com...]

[keyplyr]

Ha... looks like that 19th century fresco that was "restored" by a woman.

[newsfeed.time.com...]

[NickMNS]

@keyplyr I'm curious, how did you come up with the link from 2012?

That's the thing about art though isn't it? The value is determined by what someone will pay for it.

That's not specific to art it applies to anything. The price or value of a thing (even intangible things) is what someone will pay for it.

I've stood in front of several hugely valuable paintings and could never really see it, but someone does.

Sometimes the value in the art is not what is on the canvas but it lies in all the art that came before it. But this applies to music just as it does to visual arts. Eg: Ornette Coleman?

[keyplyr]

@keyplyr I'm curious, how did you come up with the link from 2012?

Google

[lucy24]

:: idly thinking about the number of times paintings by a chimpanzee have been sold for vast amounts ::

[LifeinAsia]

Waiting to see someone try to sell/auction a blank canvas, titled "NULL, as envisioned by AI"

I'm sure someone would be it, although maybe not for over $400K.

[keyplyr]

@LifeinAsia - I have that masterpiece.

It's titled "Black Horses Chasing White Horses"

It depicts an intense action scene where the White Horses have already run past and the Black Horses haven't arrived yet.

[LifeinAsia]

So you think there will be a huge bruhaha with some critics alleging the AI plagiarized "Black Horses Chasing White Horses," while other critics point out the delicate differences between the individual works.

[keyplyr]

While I'm a professional artist, I have no idea what art is. I've taught art at three of the nation's most prestigious universities in music, but make no pretense to being an expert.

I know what some people say about the arts. I see what they write. I watch them stick price tags on artistic things. Despite this, I couldn't honestly describe what art is beyond the observation that what I see is someone's self-expression.

As Duke Ellington insightfully said "There is no art without intention." In other words, a burnt piece of toast resembling the face of Elvis is not art, or so Ellington believes.

Can a computer create art? Does a computer possess the ability of intention or does it just follow programing & generated variables? I'll let the experts decide.

- - -

[NickMNS]

Can a computer create art?

Is it the computer or is it the programmer that programmed the computer with the intention of having it create the art. This isn't the same as the burnt toast Elvis, subtly different. One can view the computer as medium, the brush.

[keyplyr]

If you're using that standard, then it disproves itself since it is not the programmer that is credited with creating the art, but the concept of AI.

A portrait made by algorithm smashed new boundaries

[tangor]

And the concept of AI is based on human intervention to create it.

Catch22 ... it either is, or it isn't.

When Colossus is fully functional we will have AI that is creative. (Look it up)

[RhinoFish]

Once the algo grows old and passes, will the value of its art go up?

[keyplyr]

Can a computer cut off its ear? Does it have an ear to cut off?

[tangor]

I put this in the category of Chimp or Elephant art ... some of those went for crazy prices, too. :)

[Essex_boy]

The art world is a farce, in the Sixties a paintings 'Flaming June' couldnt be sold for £50, today its worth Millions - I buy paintings from an artist, in the 80's thousands of pounds would take me to buy one, now £70.

Theres a good chance this 'price' is rigged, all they have to do is 10% to the auction - $50000 for all that publicity

[lucy24]

The art world is a farce

We’ve been taught to sneer at “I don’t know anything about art but I know what I like” when in fact “what I like” is the only valid criterion.

If you’ve ever watched Antiques Roadshow you’ve seen appraisals along the lines of “As an example of {genre} this is worth $500 but if you could prove for certain that it’s by {name} it would be worth $5000.” Sigh. If the identical piece had been produced by a human rather than by an algorithm, what would it have sold for?