Let’s go back to 2016 and re-consider how the works highlighted below are more relevant today than ever when asking “What is and isn’t art?”.  The recent surge in AI and chatbot produced ‘art’ has created new challenges in recognition, interpretation and validation. Or has it? [J.Barker Content Producer for The Silo]   It became immediately apparent that the rephrasing of the question “What is art?” to “What isn’t art?” signaled a dissolution of the boundary separating metaphor from reality.

Since, citizen and artist alike have been plunged headlong into the bacchanals of postmodernity, and the question has been obscured under a heap of incongruous discourse and subtexts.

Two curious and intrepid artists offer their answers to this exhausting and illuminating question in their discussions of unexplored spaces and shifting subtexts.

Painter and multimedia artist Eva Davidova  tests the digital waters of virtual reality through immersive, programmatic experiences. Articulating the conviction that emerging technology is obliged to transcend commercial application, Davidova’s phantasmagoric 3D renderings attempt to draw the strings away from the hands of big business. Topics mentioned include the beauty of academic reciprocity, the fiscal realities of living in the metropolis, and the future of collaborative artistic environments.

Behind the meticulous and sweeping abstract landscapes from the mind of Julie Mehretu are subtle societal and historical cues, which inform and enrich the surface of her paintings. In her ebullient interview, Mehretu speaks of the benefits and restrictions that arise from using architectural semantics to ground explorations of political and social change.

Wrought from countless painterly quotations, the identity of Mehretu’s brushstroke vanishes the moment it falls under interpretation.

The elusive and curious nature of the Ethiopian artist’s aesthetic experiments, coupled with a steady ethical subtext make for an engaging and memorable listen.

Featured image- “A Questionable Tale(#1)” 2022 Marina Zurkow/DALL-E (AI) 

For the Silo, Brainard Carey.