Garden_in_my_head
Video, 2023
About the artwork
A garden in my head. Optimism is a wonderful thing, I think all artists are optimists, because I can't explain otherwise why people who create essentially useless things continue to do it with such zeal and enthusiasm. Yes these objects are useless, or nearly useless, but these objects are not meaningless. I recently read a post how one fairly well-known artist is going back to work at the mall again. It's a path of instability and romance. Perhaps we are all crazy, but it gives me respect. The flowers are still blooming in my head for now, thank you and don't buy it.
Sound design by don't Buy
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underscores much of his art, which often highlights the serendipity of algorithmic mistakes and the nostalgia of outdated interfaces.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.