Artist Will Martin talks Thursday about some of the artwork he created using AI, pieces on display at the UAP Gallery in downtown Loveland. (Jenny Sparks/Loveland Reporter-Herald)
A new gallery in Loveland is hosting an exhibit that combines photography and artificial intelligence to create images.
UAP (which stands for Unidentified Artistic Phenomena) Gallery, opened just last month in downtown Loveland on Fourth Street.
Ocular, a series of prints by Broomfield artist William Martin somewhat evocative of eyes but also exploring themes of perception, was created by feeding a generative artificial intelligence platform images that Martin took with his camera.
The original photographs and their subjects are a trade secret to Martin, what he calls his “special sauce,” but the AI platform, an open source project called Stable Diffusion, takes the original images, finds similarities between the original image and similar ones and creates something new.
The process required Martin, an IT professional by day, to build a computer with advanced graphics capabilities to even perform the tasks required to make his art.
“Which I enjoy, because I’m a nerd,” he laughed.
“It’s like mining,” Martin continued. “I put these images in, and I may go through thousands of images before I get something I’m even kind of interested in.”
The results are inky, otherworldly constructions, sometimes reminiscent of swirling galaxies, sometimes of black holes, and often of inhuman eyes.
Through all of them is a circular pattern, something Martin said was intentional and a nod to more traditional work he did in Manhattan at a lithography studio.
“Are you looking through an iris?” he wondered. “Is it some kind of portal?”
More abstract art is something that Martin is interested in, and bringing it to Loveland is part of what UAP Gallery owner Brian Kane said prompted him to open the establishment.
Ocular is only the second exhibit at the gallery, the first being Kane’s own work, and he hopes to bring a fresh attitude to the art community in town.
Also interested in artificial intelligence and the possibilities it and other computer technology could bring to the visual art world, Kane said that the topic of AI in creative fields, not to mention broader society, is an interesting one.
“I think it’s really important for artists to get in on the conversation,” he said, adding that his hope was that the topic would come up at an artist talk at the gallery on Dec. 16.
The exhibit is open now, but an official launch party will be held at 6 p.m. Dec. 8 at UAP, 115 E 4th St. An artist talk is scheduled for Dec. 16 at 7 p.m.
Ocular is on display until Jan. 4.
