Blue Sphin.exe
Video, 2023
About the artwork
We often talk about progress, about what our world will be like tomorrow, how many discoveries we still have to make, but today I am reflecting on the time when progress will finally stop. I think our progress is as inevitable as its end. Someday all our discoveries, all artworks, masterpieces and cultural objects will be forever covered in cloth and that will mean the end of our culture. I was on a quest to find objects and people covered in blue cloth, as bsod is still one of the main symbols of my work, and one of the results of the generation was a figure reminding me of an Egyptian sphinx sculpture. I don't know where progress will take us in the end, and today is just an object that is hidden under a blue cloth and no one will ever know what it really is, but only hear the sound of a sandstorm.
Sound design
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underscores much of his art, which often highlights the serendipity of algorithmic mistakes and the nostalgia of outdated interfaces.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.