Exhibit: Annelisa Leinbach - The Creative Machine: AI and the Future of Painting

March 4 - 31 * exhibit open during all events and by appointment: email info@rhizomedc.org * Opening event Saturday March 4 from 2-5pm

In The Creative Machine, artist Annelisa Leinbach seeks to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and traditional painting.

In this exhibition, Annelisa has first created a series of paintings from prompts she wrote herself, without the influence of AI. Working in her traditional style of oil and mixed media on canvas, she draws from influences such as fairy tales, illuminated manuscripts, and Renaissance art to create ethereal mythological dreamscapes. She has then entered the same prompts into the AI image generator DALL-E, which uses machine learning algorithms to generate images. The exhibition will explore the similarities and contrasts between a human artist and an AI simulator illustrating the same creative prompts.

AI raises complex questions about the future of creativity and artistic agency. Is it still possible for a machine-generated image to be considered "art," and if so, what role does the artist play in its creation? How can we reconcile these programs with issues of intellectual property and the role of art as an extension of the individual who created it? Can a computer really produce something with the same artistic spirit as the work of a human?

This exhibition seeks to engage with these questions and invite viewers to consider the possibilities and limitations of the creative machine. In a rapidly evolving technological landscape, it is essential that we examine both the dangers and potentials of AI and the ways it will transform our conception of art.

Originally from Arizona, Annelisa Leinbach drew her first creative inspiration from spending time outside and using her sketchbook to better connect with her environment. Annelisa received her bachelor's degree in painting from Yale University. She has also studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, DC. She has traveled to over 35 countries to take part in artistic projects, paint murals, and lead painting workshops. Annelisa has been working as a freelance artist for over a decade, and is currently an in-house illustrator for the science and philosophy website Big Think. She hopes to use art to help herself and others find a sense of adventure, wonder, and mystery in their everyday lives and experience the environment around them in a richer way. You can see some of her personal work at annelisaleinbach.com.