You too can be a famous artist
Just in case artificial intelligence wasn’t encroaching upon enough human spaces of late. An art world troll sneakily displayed a piece of homemade AI-generated art at a museum in the UK last month before bemused visitors alerted employees to the artificially intelligent design. The digital print had been surreptitiously showcased at the National Museum Cardiff in Wales by secretive artist Elias Marrow, who said the work was viewed by a “few hundred people” before its removal.
Elias instructed his computer printer to create a picture of his son in the style of a historical oil painting, the machine-generated masterpiece depicted a young boy in a school uniform who was sitting down with a book under his arm and an empty plate on his lap. Marrow had reportedly sketched out the image before rendering it with AI and making prints. To complete the effect, Marrow hung a plaque beside the magnum fauxpos identifying it as “Empty Plate.” It read, “digital print on paper, custom-made frame. Limited edition, signed. On loan from the Artist, 2025.” The guerrilla artwork was reportedly displayed in the museum’s contemporary art gallery for several hours before sharp-eyed visitors caught wise to the con and brought it to the attention of staff.
One tourist from Ireland said they initially wondered, “why such a poor quality AI piece was hanging there without being labelled as AI.” But when the guest approached the staff, they said “they had no idea about the piece or when it arrived.” “An item was placed without permission on a gallery wall,” a museum spokesperson said. “We were alerted to this and have removed the item in question.” Nonetheless, the undercover exhibition proved a triumph for Marrow, who said that guests responded well and even took photos. The provocateur, seemingly channeling fellow prankster and gold toilet mastermind Maurizio Cattelan, said the goal of the cybernetic knockoff was to illustrate “how public institutions decide what’s worth showing, and what happens when something outside that system appears within it.” Marrow said the use of AI in the artwork represented the “natural evolution of artistic tools,” declaring, “AI is here to stay; to gatekeep its capability would be against the beliefs I hold dear about art.”
November 18th Birthdays
1942 – Linda Evans, 1984 – Nayantara, 1962 – Jodie Foster, 1980 – Megyn Kelly
1992 – Nathan Kress, 1981 – Matthew Baynton, 1987 – Daymon Wayans, 1968- Owen Wilson