On this edition of the HORROR TO CULTURE interview series, we delve into the psychedelic dark-fantasy artwork of Vojta (who also goes by V), regarding the nature of Artificial Intelligence, our technological future, and what really happened at Roswell.
Their twisted and bizarre works can be found at THE RED PLAGUE, which is updated daily in all its curious and macabre splendor.
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MAD: First off, thanks for taking some time with us today! Your pieces are extremely cool and you have a definite eye for this format. I myself am an artist who recently began dabbling with the tool of AI generated imagery and wanted to speak with someone who is more connected with the community than myself. How did you first become involved with the creation of AI art, and if you don’t mind sharing, what are some of the programs you are currently utilizing?
TRP: I became involved with the release of DALL.E to the public. I heard about it and decided to give it a spin. I spent 16 hours generating that first day, and have been putting in roughly the same amount of hours daily since. Sometimes I’ll even do it at work if it’s a slow day. As for what I’m currently using, it’s mostly DALL.E 3.
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MAD: Do you think it is proper etiquette for those using AI programs to expressly state up front that they are using it to create images and videos? Do you feel there is an ethical rule book and standard which should be followed for those who are utilizing AI to express themselves in creative ways?
TRP: No, I don’t think it needs to be stated up front or anything. I really don’t think it's that hard to pick out an AI photo in a line-up, while the images may be realistic they are most often too compositionally perfect to be real. I.E. the background objects always matching the aspect ratios.
People are gonna make fakes regardless, so people have to be prepared for the misinformation, and really should have been prepared for misinformation to begin with, before AI. As for the rule book, just don’t spam Ironman toilet. Seriously, everyone makes Ironman toilet, I don't know why.
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MAD: I’ve been tinkering in the medium of AI for about a year now, and one of the things I don’t think some people realize or appreciate, as the viewer, is that for every 10+ pieces a person plugs in with the specifications for creation, only 1 of them might really catch their eye as being worthy of sharing. Likewise, that person might further tweak and manipulate the image with different apps, change the colors or background, etc, etc. It isn’t always as easy as just typing in a command. How long do you typically spend on a piece, or a series/set of pieces?
TRP: It’s hard to put a number on how long a set takes. Mine are usually the best of a whole day, seeing as I only really stop when I sleep. The overwhelming majority of my work is edited in one form or another, I do anything I can to enhance them beyond the current limits of AI.
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MAD: Do you personally consider AI art to be legitimate art, or is that dependent upon the person using it? And are there any fellow creators out there (artificial or otherwise), that you would like to give a shout-out to as providing some inspiration?
TRP: I do consider it be a legitimate form of art work if you come at it with an artist’s state of mind. Really, this discussion gets into the age old “what is art” argument, and in my opinion anything you put your heart into is art.
I’d love to give a shout out to my homie Anthony Machuca, he’s one of the most unique AI artists I’ve seen and the man deserves a bigger following than me, that’s for sure.
I also wanna give a shout out to my lovely wife Alexis Lee, who is also an amazing traditional artist. You can find her @Sabbatarian on Facebook and Instagram.
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MAD: What are some of your thoughts on AI writing articles, television, and movies? Making music? Running governments? Where do you see this eventually ending up in the next decade? The Singularity? Are we inviting Frankenstein wrapped up in Pandora’s Box?
TRP: I think that for writing movies and other spoken audio type media, it’s a little long winded. Some times it’s like, OK, we don’t need this written in the style of Stephen Hawking, like, I just asked for a brownie recipe.
I’d assume one day it’ll run a government. I mean, if a bunch of upright monkeys can, then surely an artificial upright monkey can. Really though we should just be able to vote directly on bills with an AI from our phones, but that’s a much larger conversation.
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MAD: How long before it is developed with, and achieves, truly sentient consciousness? Will Artificial Intelligence ever truly be considered “alive”? Is the Terminator here? Should humans start hoarding toilet paper again?
TRP: We’ve had AI indistinguishable from humans from at least 20 to 30 years, when you heard about it is when it started to be released to the corporations. It’s OK, you can call me crazy, but people didn’t want to believe the government was watching us through every device we own either, but Snowden blew that one wide open. Watch Stanton Friedman’s interviews with the residents of Roswell, they are on the official U.S. National Archive YouTube page, because they were recorded on behalf of the D.O.D. They’ll blow your mind.
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MAD: I’ve heard Stanton Friedman many times over the years from his appearances on Coast to Coast AM, but will have to check out those videos. Also, I’m in agreement that AI has been used in some form or fashion for the past decade or two at least, even if just to crunch numbers and run statistical outcomes of various scenarios. Totally off topic, but who is your favorite band or musician? If your art had a soundtrack, what would it be? And why did you choose the name THE RED PLAGUE for your presentation?
TRP: I keep Acidbath, Crowbar, Zillakami, Li’l Ugly Mane, Billy Woods, Heaven Shall Burn and Zheani in constant rotation. So I’d say those are the soundtracks to my art.
I chose the name THE RED PLAGUE because I felt it represents what I want my art to be; a mental plague, something that you see that instantly embeds deep in your mind, something you feel compelled to spread, a psychological virus, something akin to a more passive MK Ultra.
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MAD:Vojta, thank you again for your time, I hope we can keep in touch and maybe do this again sometime! I think we’d have a lot more to talk about. In close I would like to ask you what is your favorite book, and are there any closing statements you would like to leave the readers with today?
TRP: My 3 favorite books are in order 1) Tao Te Ching 2) Dune 3) The Day After Roswell.
“He who speaks does not know he who knows does not speak.”
-The Tao Te Ching
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THE RED PLAGUE is regularly updated with original AI artwork from the artist known as Vojta.
Michael A. Dyer is the host of the HORROR TO CULTURE podcast and website.
