This is about the NeoBohème series. It all started with a speed painting series ...
the NIFTMEUP NEOBOHÈMES
Overall, I painted 25 NEOBOHÈMES. Each item was painted in one session, quickly, intuitively, without too much thinking. The work was guided by the flow, so each creature evolved by itself, without a plan.
the METABOHÈMES
Later (2022/05) I wanted to try out and see a generative approach.
metaBohèmes are relicts of an ancient nerd and trash culture. Each metaBohème represents a unique combination of attributes. metaBohèmes are mysterious, meaningless? meaningful? Time will decide. metaBohèmes are palimpests, symbols for a meta-text to be discovered.
I used an Ipad Pro + Procreate to draw all necessary elements and ended up creating a PFP project based on image composition. It was built upon ~ 200 visual layers, code shuffling. Each Metabohème finally was minted into its persistent shape. Perhaps the overall process can be compared with chemistry.
the LATENTBOHÈMES
The latest class of the ...Bohèmes evolved in latent space ...
In this collection (~ 2022/02) I tried to spot strong characters. Each character is based on the original visual DNA of their ancestors- the NIFTMEUP NEOBOHÈMES
All LatentBohèmes have been generated using Stable Diffusion (v2.1_768_ema...) for image-to-image generation based on original Neobohème raw material + prompt input. After the curation of the outcome, the selected character finally was edited or overpainted (using Wacom tablet, Affinity 2 or Rebelle).
A final breed of LatentBohèmes was the result. Something with the strength to stand alone.
To me it was interesting to observe how initial and intuitive ideas morphed into something else, step by step. A micro-evolution. Each epoch was formally a story by its own.