#12 From Reflections to Borges: Navigating AI's Role in Digital Art
π Hello, we are Julian and Marcel, and welcome to our weekly edition of The Curious Collector. Each week we humbly curate whatβs happening in the digital art realm. β¨
It is a subscriber-only newsletter, delivered every Sunday, highlighting mainly digital and sometimes physical art news.
In this week's digest, we're exploring the intersection of the tangible allure of oil paintings and cutting-edge AI techniques, along with the linguistic intricacies found in AI-translated literature. Spanning diverse genres, we witness art's evolving narrative in our digital age.
Roope Rainisto's insight captures our deeper immersion into the digital realm, suggesting a gradual shift in our aesthetic preferences from traditional forms to the digital canvas.
News Digest
Reflections: Curated by Adam Berninger, the "Reflections" exhibition in Red Hook, Brooklyn showcases nine artists who focus on portraiture, blending AI techniques with traditional art forms.
Tender and Artmatr present these artworks as tangible oil paintings, achieved through Artmatr's pioneering robotic technology that brings digital art into the physical realm of oil paint.
Being Borges: Ana MarΓa Caballero's project "Being Borges" uses AI to explore linguistic and cultural biases by comparing how AI interprets Spanish and English translations of Jorge Luis Borges and Margarita Guerreroβs "The Book of Imaginary Beings."
Resulting in a collector's set featuring poems, images, and a triptych highlighting linguistic differences and shared meanings, presented in partnership with Verse and Office Impart.
Digital Highlight

βI would like to go to MusΓ©e d'Orsay. And then paint.
Painting endlessly the memory of all the paintings I saw there.βBenjamin Bardou
French visual artist Benjamin Bardou blends traditional themes with innovative point cloud aesthetics, collaborating with major companies and artists. His globally recognized work delves into cities and memories, bridging classical artistry with modern technology.
Notable Insight
βI think psychologically one would want to eventually buy art which has cultural relevance to the life you have personally lived - modern lives are digital, we're exposed to the digital artefacts, to the digital society. Not to 19th century landscape paintings with horses.β
Roope Rainisto
His quote aptly captures the shifting aesthetic preferences and cultural leanings of contemporary society. As we delve deeper into the digital realmβin our interactions, memories, and daily livesβit's natural for our art preferences to echo this transition.
While traditional art forms remain timeless and invaluable, they might not resonate as profoundly with those who see their stories more in pixels than on a physical canvas.
Sale Spotlight

In July 2023, computer art pioneer Vera MolnΓ‘r, in collaboration with Martin Grasser, unveiled Themes and Variations, a generative art collection. This body of work reflects her deep engagement with algorithmic art since the 1960s.
At the heart of her artistic expression, these 500 works transform letters into abstract forms, emphasizing the dynamic interplay between the artist's intention and the machine's execution.
Artist to Watch
Lilyillo, a Canberra-based multidisciplinary artist born in Sydney in 1981, delves into personal narratives, identity, and the nuances of creation through both traditional and digital AI mediums.
Her work for the "Reflections" exhibition reveals imperfections, mirroring the beauty in life's irregularities and the unpredictability of AI tools pushed beyond their training. The intimate focus on facial details emphasizes vulnerability and celebrates the unique beauty of both human and artificial anomalies.
Tech & Texture
Digital Dossier: Blockchain startup Arcual has introduced the 'Digital Dossier' to chronicle an artwork's lifecycle, capturing its authenticity and exhibition history.
Ceramic artist Phoebe Cummings showcased this feature at Art Basel, highlighting the traditional art world's adaptation to blockchain technology.


Robert Hodgin: Robert Hodgin is celebrating the launch of "Recollection" within reGEN on Art Blocks, joining a global initiative against Alzheimerβs disease.
Drawing from both natural and man-made systems, Hodgin uses coding as his primary medium, balancing order and chaos in his art.


Closing Remarks
Art has always been a mirror to society, reflecting our evolving identities, desires, and innovations. As we close this issue, we're reminded of the boundless possibilities that lie at the nexus of tradition and technology.
Embracing both past and future, we look forward to the next chapter of this ever-evolving narrative, and to sharing it with you.