“AI ON ACID” TO DROP ON NIFTY GATEWAY APRIL 19, 2023 | NFT CULTURE | NFT News | Web3 culture
An enhanced collection of generative AI images to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the discovery of LSD
“AI on Acid” is an experimental conceptual art project by visual artist Glen Wexler best known for creating digitally enhanced photo compositions of improbable situations on hundreds of album covers.
This work is an adaptation of the pioneering research project “LSD & Creativity” by Los Angeles psychiatrist Dr. Oscar Janiger, who first experienced LSD in 1953 when its manufacturer, Sandoz Pharmaceutical, was seeking medical uses and marketing opportunities for the powerful drug. . Impressed by the possibilities, Dr. Janiger began the study of LSD as a catalyst for creativity. The research covered all art and involved people from all walks of life. Some of the luminaries who participated in the controlled sessions while under the influence of LSD were Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, Jack Nicholson, Cary Grant, James Coburn and Andre Previn.
From 1958 to 1962, Dr. Janiger’s research included the study of the effects of LSD on creativity in the visual arts. A Native American Kachina doll displayed in his office was often the subject for participants to paint or draw. “AI on Acid” attempts to recreate the results of the artworks created in the study by using a high-resolution image of the Kachina doll from the original study together with reference works created during the study as visual queries for the machine intelligence to generate new unique works. The reference works inform the AI about the artistic styles and medium used in the original study. Wexler selects different outcomes for the AI to remix, and he processes the generative results to enhance them individually in Photoshop.
“After my recent documentation of nearly 300 works from the original study in preparation for a coffee table book on the artwork from Dr. Janiger’s study, it is remarkable to see machine intelligence produce results that are randomly unexpected, yet similar to abstract interpretations of the artists in Janiger’s study, everything from colorful representations to full-fledged hallucinogenic deconstructions.
Wexler observes: “After my recent documentation of nearly 300 works from the original study in preparation for a coffee table book on the artwork from Dr. Janiger’s study, it is remarkable to see machine intelligence produce results that are randomly unexpected, yet similar to abstract interpretations of the artists in Janiger’s study, everything from colorful representations to full-fledged hallucinogenic deconstructions. It occurred to me that the psychedelic experience bypasses the ego and frees the mind to make unexpected neural connections that result in an altered perception of reality. Similarly, artificial intelligence, presumably devoid of ego, creates random associations based on millions of data points. Now more than 60 years after the research project, it is curious to see results that include the Kachina doll reinterpreted as a Yoda-like figure.”
ABOUT
Dr. Oscar Janiger (1918-2001) was a pioneering American researcher of the psychedelic drugs LSD and DMT. He was the author of “A Different Kind of Healing” and co-author of “LSD, Spirituality, and the Creative Process.” Janiger’s ground-breaking studies depict an important moment in the history of consciousness and reveal humanity’s innate creativity.
Janiger practiced psychiatry and instructed medical students and residents for more than fifty years. He was an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the California College of Medicine, University of California at Irvine.
Glenn Wexler is a visual artist best known for his elaborately staged photo compositions of unlikely situations. Works are included in the permanent collections of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Palm Springs Art Museum, and have been exhibited worldwide, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
At 22, Wexler photographed his first album cover for Quincy Jones Productions while a student at the Art Center College of Design. He embraced opportunities in the music industry where he found a visual playground to hone his craft and visions. Album covers include Van Halen, Rush, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top and many others.
Commissions include hundreds of advertising campaigns, including Acura, Activision, Adobe, Coca-Cola, Maxell, Pepsi and Sony. Wexler’s editorial work includes selected conceptual photo illustrations for TIME Magazine. Art commissions include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He also created iconic photographic logos for The Star Wars trilogy and Batman forever Movies.
Nice gateway is a digital art auction platform for non-fungible token (NFT) art founded by Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster and has since been acquired by the Winklevoss twins. Nifty Gateway teams up with top artists and brands to create exclusive collections of limited editions and high quality NFTs. In March 2021, Nifty Gateway began a collaboration with the auction house Sotheby’s.
