Claire AI Contest celebration with SuperRare and Exquisite Workers
Inauguration of the featured page to highlight the awarded AI artists.
Barcelona, Spain — February 5, 2023 — In August 2022, the global AI art community celebrated the first AI Art Competition organized by Claire Silver, a pioneer in generative art and co-founder of A2 Accelerate Art. With her statement “Taste is the new skill,” Silver is an NFT evangelist and 2017 Cryptopunk. The competition took place on her official Twitter account and received over 1.5K submissions, attracting 168K views. This marked the start of a series of regular competitions in the AI art community.
Today marks the celebration of the Finalists and Winners of the 1st Claire AI Contest and the inauguration of the SuperRare Featured Page. This highlights the onboarded artists on the platform in collaboration with Exquisite Workers, showcasing the winning artworks from the contest.
The 1st Claire AI Contest Celebration on SuperRare honours the Finalist Stephan Vasement, the Finalist Andrei Riabovitchev, Winner Anna Dart, Winner Javier Tomeo, and the Absolute Prize Winner, Nate Talbot (N8). The results were announced on Twitter under the hashtag #ClaireAIContest.
A quote from Claire Silver: “This was so hard. Loved so many more than whats chosen here (…) Please know my favorites list was 341 pieces long, and it was *extremely* painful to pare it down. I hope you’re encouraged by that. Of the list, finally narrowed it to Javier Tomeo, Anna Dart and Nate Talbot. All shared high quality work that moved me. Recommend you follow all 3 & watch their work closely.”
WINNERS´S ARTWORK SUMMARY
“Flying Birds”, Finalist at the 1st Claire AI Contest
A screenwriter by education, Stephan Vasement is a graphic AI artist who has been fascinated by art since an early age. He grew up in a small snowy town where he went sledding and had a simple childhood that he would wish for every creative person. Fate took him first to Photography, Animation, and then to Artificial Intelligence, the medium of expression that he never left. Stephan´s reference in films is Robert Bresson and in photography Henri Cartier Bresson. He also draws inspiration from the music of Marie Laforet and Françoise Hardy. In 2022, Stephan´s work was featured in Superchief Gallery NFT, Art Basel Miami and nft now. Stephan shares about his submission to the 1st Claire AI Contest “Flying Birds”: “This work was inspired by one morning when I went out for coffee and saw a cat scaring the birds. (…) I tried to capture the very essence of the chaotic flying birds and convey the chaos of their movement through the picture.”
“Golden Boy”, Finalist at the 1st Claire AI Contest
Andrei Riabovitchev was born in 1968 in Aphseronsk, South Russia. He moved to Moscow to study engineering then found his way into the animation industry. He had always loved art as a youngster and has been working as an artist ever since. Andrei has worked his way through all the different stages involved in making an animation film. His work as Character Designer can be seen in ‘Prince Vladimir’ and ‘Quest for a Heart’. In 2008, Andrei moved to the UK and began working in the film and VFX industry. In the UK he has worked in a wide range of projects as a Senior Concept Artist, including: ‘Aladdin’, ‘Wrath of the Titans’, ‘X-Men First Class’,’ Wolfman’, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ Parts 1 & 2. In 2022, Andrei was onboarded as one of the leading AI artists by SuperChief NFT Gallery, USA. Andrei shares about his AI Collaborative piece “Golden Boy”: “We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.”
“Fu Mar AI”, Winner at the 1st Claire AI Contest
Anna Dart is an multidisciplinary artist, curator, and futurist who promotes ecological, cultural and social sustainability at the intersection of new tech. Dart is a guest artist at Picasso Museum and The Fabricant, and a co-founder at Exquisite Workers. Known for her striking magnetic portraits with an intelligent handling of gray, Anna searches for inspiration in dance, drama and Gaudí’s architecture. In 2022, her work was exhibited in Art Basel Miami, 0x Society, and Seattle NFT Museum etc. Anna shares about “Fu Mar AI”: “This work is about the enduring love and its power to encore us in the midst of external chaos. There is a contrast between the old love and new solitude the virtual world brings, represented by the watercolour core and multilayered roots generated by AI. The feelings I wanted to contain in “Fu Mar AI” are best represented by Kara Jackson’s poetry “The World Is About to End and My Grandparents Are in Love”.
“Ballet School”, Winner at the 1st Claire AI Contest
Javier Tomeo is an awarded 33 year old AI artist, who graduated in Philosophy from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisboa, Portugal. For 10 years he was involved in Graphic Design and Javascript programming which led him to Generative Art. He created his first instantly sold out works on the fx(hash) platform and became interested in the medium of AI. Javier finds his inspiration in fine art, photography, and film, especially in the New Leipzig School, the Abstract Expressionism of the New York School, Italian movies of the 1960s. In his spare time, he enjoys kite-surfing and taking care of homeless cats. In 2022, Tomeo´s art was exhibited in SCOPE Art Show during Art Basel Miami. Tomeo shares about his artwork: “”Ballet School” represents the idea of how people’s destinies intersecting at the same time in the same place merge into one beautiful picture, creating a beautiful work of art. It raises issues of unity, loneliness in crowds, social problems, death, love, and much more.”
“Limbo”, First Prize at the 1st Claire AI Contest
N8 is a visual artist who gained his Degree in Philosophy and Fine Arts at the University of Windsor, Canada. In his work, he uses a combination of VR, 3D scanning, AI, and holograms to explore his identity, the emergent self, and techno-spirituality. He engages with high technology to explore auretic entanglements with natural objects, human entanglements with technology, and the ways in which both form the liminal identity as a mixed Ojibwe-black-settler man. N8 invites the viewer to think about the self as a coinhabited assemblage, the illusory nature of identity and its autobiographical exploration, as well as technology’s introspective and integrative spiritual properties. N8 is fascinated by the idea of the hologram, that the whole can be contained in the part. As an extension of his 3D renders, he brings his renders to life using holographic screens. “Limbo” is an AI Collaborative work by N8 created in Stable Diffusion with a digital painting applied over.
ONLINE AUCTIONS RESULTS
Online auctions of the 1st Claire AI Contest winning artworks took place on January 23, 2023 at 9 pm EST on SuperRare curated page.
Nate Talbot (N8), Anna Dart, Andrei Riabovitchev ´s art is collected by Claire Silver, Stephan Vasement´s art is collected by ShaktiDreams, Javier Tomeo´s art is collected by NFT500.
CONGRATULATIONS
We take this opportunity to congratulate other Finalists of the 1st Claire AI Contest: Opticnerd, Jonsie27, BoringDogo, Petra, Jenni Pasanen, Lassinger, Blake Wood, Srodan.dshcorp, Rvre, Marco, Dehiscence, Talyssa, Maria House, Edit, Arka.i.ngel, Ren AI, Nikita Panin, Din Burns, Christopher C-Dub Wheeler, Shawnmoreton, Web3 Horizons, Claudia Pawak, and DivineRipper.
We also congratulate the Finalists of the 2nd Edition of the Claire AI Contest: Ala_Art_Lab, Mikey Woodbridge, Woody_Mert, Arka.i.ngel, Senorita Pipita, Noortje Stortelder, Tu.uk´z, Tustont, AEneas, BOO Kaazoo, White Filter, Loricist, Din Burns, Blank, Rwx, Ren AI, Maia Mellier, Mariela Di Nardo, Haze Long, Right on Ricky, Varya.jpg, Scizors, GanWeaving, CheeseTalk, Satvik Sethi, Barb&, the Winners Grebenshai, ArtificialBob, MemoryMod, Szkandal, Rocketgirl, and the Absolute Winner Roope Rainisto.
We also congratulate the Winners of the third edition announced on February 4, 2023: @mg_deangelis, @weird_momma_x, @redactedpride, @a_ileigh, and the Absolute Winner @EclecticMethod.
We are excited for the next opportunities and competitions and invite you all to participate in this history-making moment with awareness, excitement, and a sense of global connectedness!
Edit (Feb 10, 2023): The Results of the Claire AI Contest are announced on Twitter and Intagram of SuperRare.
About Exquisite Workers
Exquisite Workers is a hub for the cultivation of the next generation of innovators, to celebrate their artistry and voices shaping new understandings in pursuit of a better, more just world. From their passion for Surrealism, Exquisite Workers builds the culture of the Metaverse because virtual worlds are the reflection of our dreams. Exquisite Workers believes that artists should be the ambassadors of cultural legacies and be at the forefront of innovation.
Do you have any questions?
If you have any questions or if you want to work with us, feel free to contact us. For business inquiries or very personal reasons, you can send us an email via hello[at]exquisiteworkers.com (Replace [at] with @, this tactic is to avoid spam). We are always available and happy to help artists and AI art collectors like you!
Would like to try the AI tools and do not know where to start?
No problem! We invite you to explore the AI tool Box by Time Traveller AI, AWAIC communite memeber. It is a great thread on Twitter which covers the major AI tools such as DALL-E 2, MidJourney, Stable Diffusion (with prompts and examples of outcomes). 🔥
