Self Portraits

Harold Cohen and his Creation: AARON

Harold Cohen is a very unique artist in the digital world. He combined science and art to develop some really interesting artworks while making new discoveries about the capabilities of a computer. He started off as a painter in England, then worked his way over to the US. He was an art professor at UCSD and developed a project that turned into an ongoing research project. He created a computer program known as AARON. He was one of the only artists to delve into the topic of artificial intelligence and art. Little did he know this invention would change his life.

AARON is an ongoing research project that began in the seventies . Cohen wanted to create a program that could exhibit human characteristics in such a way that it could think for itself enough to create drawings and artwork. He wanted to create a program that cognitive skills and abilities like the ones that humans use when creating or evaluating images. At the start of this project, AARON could only recognize figures and background, closed vs. open figures and manipulate these figures in a very basic manner. Since the beginning of the project, AARON has come a long way. Cohen has devoted a significant portion of his life to the project and the works that have been created by Cohen and AARON are incredible.

Soon, AARON was able to make decisions about how to continue drawing an image by "remembering" what it had already done and thinking about its goal. Cohen wanted AARON to be able to be cognitively aware of what it was currently doing and what it had already done, just as humans think while drawing a picture. By 1985, AARON was able to create a picture of the statue of liberty from a description Cohen provided through question and answer with the computer. Soon AARON was creating pictures of plant life and eventually human figures.

At this point, AARON has created thousands of drawings, many of which Cohen has taken it upon himself to add color. Now, AARON can create one unique image in two minutes, a pretty unbelievable task for a computer program. AARON is the first computer/program to be able to create its own pieces of art from scratch.

Cohen is a very interesting artist because he indirectly created much of his art through a machine that he created. Its an incredible process that I don't fully understand, but am fascinated by. He has created so many different pieces that I couldn't possibly try to discern a meaning from each one. However, the whole reason he created AARON (which is really a work of art in itself) was in hope of understanding why people recognize drawings as real life images. For example, one topic Cohen may have wanted to address is how a bunch of lines drawn on a piece of paper can somehow be recognized by the viewer as a human figure, or tree, or whatever image is being depicted. In researching this topic, he created an amazing piece of art that lives a dynamic life in it's very own creations. Not only is Cohen an artist, but a scientist and inventor. I think the goal of his art is a bit more scientific than anything, but it is also very visually pleasing. Through his art, he aimed/aims to make scientific discoveries. Thus far, he seems to be very successful in doing just that.

I am extremely impressed by Cohen's creation. It is a remarkable piece of art and scientific invention. I never thought that something like AARON could be created, let alone help someone gain scientific input on genetics and human thought. Personally, I find math and science to be extremely interesting. I never really thought they could be combined with art, but Cohen did just that. I believe he may be continuing to work on improving AARON today. I really don't know how AARON could be improved because I don't fully understand how AARON does what it does. AARON continues to function successfully in creating vivid pictures. It is an inspiration to scientists and artists alike. Nothing like Cohen's achievements have been seen before, but I am sure many more people will try to combine science and art in the future. I can't wait to see the capabilities and discoveries to come from this wonderful invention!

Final Version of Photoshop Project One

Photoshop Project 1: Alternate Reality

I created this image to represent a girl/woman looking back on her childhood. It's supposed to show her feelings of longing for the past and feeling sort of homesick.

photoshop editing

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Hannah Hoch Photomontages

I came across Hannah Hoch's art in the New Media Art Introduction. I decided to delve a little deeper into her art and found it very interesting. She seems to be a very powerful artist. She is well-known for being the only female member of DADA and was one of the first artists to experiment with photomontage. She related each of her photomontages to her own life. She specifically tried to convey her feelings as being a woman in an art movement which was primarily run by men in the pre and post-war times that Germany faced. I found her art particularly interesting because of its "unrealistic" representation of her reality. Because she didn't use just one real photo as a representation of subservient woman in World War II Germany, but instead manipulated many photographs in combination with some scrap paper/objects, her art is very unique. It sends her strong personal message. It also seems almost other worldly because the people in her photomontages don't look realistic. She would sometimes combine pictures of different body parts to create a person. She would even explore distorting reality by placing pictures of women's heads on male's bodies. When she began creating these photomontages, they evoked very serious messages in a serious manner. Over time she began making her montages more humorous.

Her artwork is not just creative and fun to look at, but very meaningful. She illustrates the subservience of women to men in Germany before and after WWII. She shows how men dominated not only her world (because she was the only female in DADA at the time), but also throughout the world. For example, the top image I have displayed is one created by Hannah Hoch. This image conveys a message of women being viewed as sexual objects because of the bare female legs. The image also shows that these women are being watched by men because of the eye under the legs. Much of her work shows her feminist ideals in a male dominated society.

I think her work shows true genius. It is invigorating and thought-provoking. I think it took a lot of courage and creativity to not only be one of the first to make art out of a photomontage, but to also convey such a strong and controversial message. She was risking a lot to create this art as a woman during this time and it probably inspired many other women of that time and even today. I can't think of any way she could have improved her work because it is so unique to herself, her message, and the time period. I really enjoyed her work. Seeing her art has helped me brainstorm for even more ways to create a "fabricated reality" of the current society that I live in today through scanned images and photographs.

Mirta Kupfermink project