AI + Art + Addiction
Evolution shaped modern humans into curious, visual creatures, so it's no surprise that the endless streams of online novelties have produced an epidemic of screen addiction.
Sep 07, 2025
Computational art is a movement defined as work created entirely or partially with computers. Within the movement, there are many different media, for example, AI, generative, 3D, immersive, and holographic. There is no overarching manifesto; creative tech tools have developed too organically for that, but each medium has specific things it does exceptionally well. Additionally, within each medium, artists are now forming distinct stylistic schools of thought.
Trying to make sense of it all is a vast project, but I think it's important. Surveying what these artists are uncovering through their personal discoveries and inventions will help inform and inspire each of us as we navigate our own creative lives.
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Over the next few months, I want to explore with you some of the aesthetic and conceptual attributes I see emerging from the various media and artists' groups. All of us see art through the lens of our own experiences, so the selections and points I make are my opinions. Please feel free to add your observations in comments.
Perfect $torm, digital image, by Dirt Castle
The first aspect I want to highlight is computational art's ability to insightfully critique technology.
There's a direct relationship between the audience's response to a work and the medium it's made from. Having curated many computational exhibits, I've seen the public take the implications of materials like code, data, and AI prompts into consideration when analyzing the art. The meaning of the piece comes in part from the meaning viewers attach to the underlying tech.
New Oracle, software and paint, by Alex Dodge
The work I'm showing is using tech imagery to critique tech's additive power. Evolutionary forces shaped modern humans into curious, visual creatures. So, it's not surprising that the endless streams of online novelties we can now binge-watch beginning in infancy have produced a damaging epidemic of screen addiction.
Addiction, digital image and NFT, by Delta Sauce, and Radiant Future, unique digital print by Below subconscious
By employing narrative techniques commonly used by illustrators, the artists have created pictures that are easy to read. A lot of the familiar tech imagery comes pre-loaded with emotional symbolism. The glitch, glare, pixelated static, and data streams suggest the omnipotence of machines. While the mesmerized, numb, hysterical, or confused humans read as sympathetic figures dominated by information overload.
Though apparently straightforward, the artist's creative choices are more conceptually strategic and nuanced than they first appear.
Most of us, me included, view art for a few seconds, at most a few minutes, and then never see it again. This can happen in physical museums and galleries, but online it's almost a given. Those who acquire a work of art have the advantage of living with a piece over time, but for the rest of us, the art must be bold and decisive up front, yet complex enough to linger and reemerge from memory when appropriate. To do this effectively, the image can't play guessing games. The pictures must generate split-second relevance.
Manic Glitch, digital print, by Jessica Jackson, Copy Paste, digital image, by Delta Sauce, Seeping, digital image, by Oonaode
Ironically, by posting on platforms that encourage speed swiping, these artists must attract eyeballs that have been captured by the very platforms their art is criticizing.
Illustrative styling is often devalued as merely decorative by the established Big A art world. These artists have employed their sticky narration to underscore the corrosive addiction of tech's entertaining entrapment model. And therein lies the meaning of the work: we can't escape what we won't let go of.
Creative computer technology has opened up an entirely new arena for fine art. These pioneering artists, driven by survival instincts, are evolving entirely new ways to communicate in the still alien digital landscape.
We Are All 011, digital image, by Dead Dreamer
Thank you for reading. I encourage you to add your thoughts on the art and ideas. JM
Interested in seeing computational art in person? These are galleries I recommend.
London - fellowship.xyz/exhibitions
New York City - bitforms.art/exhibitions
Amsterdam - deadendgallery.com/Exhibitions
New York City - klausgallery.com/exhibition/alex-dodge
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