System herbarium
Still, 2024
Reserve Ξ0.03Buy Now Ξ0.50
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About the artwork
A bouquet of flowers in a vase has frozen in an eternal sleep, disintegrating into digital pop-ups, as if flipping through the pages of endless code. Computer cursors entwine the fragile stems, creating an image of an eternal digital web. It raises questions about time, the immortality of digital artifacts, and how real life intertwines with the virtual, leaving a mark in digital space. The flowers, as if imprinted in the computer's memory, become a symbol of both instability and, at the same time, eternity.
Audio explanation
Listen to don't Buy discuss this work.
Don’t Buy is a visual artist who creates digital paintings, videos, and GIFs using artificial intelligence and mixed media. Embracing a moniker that itself subverts consumerist language, he approaches art-making with a hacker’s spirit – repurposing AI technology to explore the beauty of errors and the aesthetics of early digital culture. In his work, glitchy abstractions and retro graphics converge to address themes of identity and imperfection in the online era. “When a cold, mechanical machine makes a mistake, it becomes a little more human,” Don’t Buy notes, reflecting his view that technological faults can reveal human qualities. This philosophy underscores much of his art, which often highlights the serendipity of algorithmic mistakes and the nostalgia of outdated interfaces.
A participant in Fellowship’s AI art program, Don’t Buy has presented projects that encapsulate his ethos. Notably, his series 404: SELF NOT FOUND (2024) is an assemblage of AI-generated imagery probing our entanglement with digital identities and the nature of error. Through a mix of dark humor and experimental technique, he transforms mundane clicks and computer glitches into artistic meditation.