New Art from DBC and Glass Studios
After a year working with digital and physical media, the artist DBC will be presenting new material that uses text, AI and painting
Embracing Fifth Dimensional Syncretism: An Innovative Approach to Contemporary Art
Douglas Crets (DBC) introduces Fifth Dimensional Syncretism, a groundbreaking art style that synthesizes hidden and overt elements to create multidimensional works placed in media and placed in physical space. This approach uniquely blends traditional and modern techniques, utilizing steganography and cryptographic proofs in online published material to embed concealed texts or visual objects within the art.
By incorporating AI-generated images as "cover art," DBC explores the intersection of technology and creativity, pushing the boundaries of artistic expression. He asks the viewer to move from being a simple viewer of an image to being a forensic examiner of an image, to literally go beyond its surface area.
This following 200 word description introduces some of the visual elements of this process while delineating the process’s features.
Why It Is Innovative
Though not necessarily new, the integration of steganography and cryptographic proofs in art is a novel concept in the NFT / Web3 ecosystem, where most art is graphic arts and heavily focused on the , adding layers of meaning and authenticity. This method ensures the originality and ownership of the artwork, and it also sets a new standard for digital art security by providing a stenographic proof embedded in the image rather than simply a hash that points to a decentralised image tied to a smart contract, as is done on Ethereum.
Aesthetically it is innovative because the artist can prevent both a physically and manually created artwork as well as a digital and AI-manipulated artwork at the same time. The collector does not have to decide and can own all of them. This creates new opportunities for deeper dives into seeing, thinking about and investigating the art and provenance of the artist.
The use of AI tools like DALL-E to generate cover images creates a symbiotic relationship between human creativity and machine learning. This fusion of technology and traditional art forms not only expands the possibilities for artistic creation but also challenges the conventional boundaries of what art can be. As the artist creates new images, the artist learns and teaches the AI, and the AI learns and teaches the artist. The artistic output is then a syncretic object that ontologically serves to educate and exist within the system of the culture, not just as a visual THING, but as a multi-layered learning system in and of itself.
Bridging Art Traditions
Fifth Dimensional Syncretism aligns with the principles of conceptual modernism, which emphasizes the idea behind the artwork over its aesthetic. Like the modernists, DBC focuses on the conceptual depth, exploring themes of spiritual emergencies, personal growth, and the value of mistakes in the creative process. This approach resonates with the works of artists like Marcel Duchamp and Yoko Ono, who prioritized concept over form.
In the contemporary art scene, DBC’s work stands out by addressing the digital age's challenges and opportunities. The use of blockchain technology to track ownership and authenticity is particularly relevant in today's art market, where digital art and NFTs are gaining prominence.
By engaging with contemporary themes and tools, Fifth Dimensional Syncretism bridges the gap between traditional art forms and the digital future. To sell these images, DBC uses the Chia cryptocurrency and blockchain.
If you are interested in seeing the AI cover image portfolio, you can visit the work hosted at Mintgarden, an NFT exchange using the Chia blockchain. You can see DBC’s physical work at the same exchange.
To interact with the stenographic AI images, you can download the images you might consider buying onto your own computer or other device, and then use Passlok to decode the images. The image passwords are often given in the metadata attributes in the NFT platform. When you do interact with the images, upload them and make sure the settings for passlok are like so:
