Mimic - Jason Puccinelli at Roq La Rue

Masquerade of Random Nothingness; Jason Puccinelli, oil on panel, 15.5 x 19.5; 2023

Opened at Roq La Rue in Seattle is a show of new work by Jason Puccinelli entitled ‘Mimic’. Taking in the initially surreal compositions of cyborgs and Parisian damsels attending feasts of oddly indeterminate foodstuffs it seemed like good fun, but it wasn’t until I read his artist statement that I had any idea at all what was really going on. Puccinelli had reached out to one of the automated image generator bots, such as DALL-E or Midjourney, with prompts to make compositions that feature old school robots celebrating at a banquet in a Parisian fin de siécle setting.

Embracing the AI controversy, he faithfully repaints in oil the compositions that were generated in all their detailed, often ambiguous and disjointed glory. Often the beings depicted evoke a Blade Runner android mash-up with a Manet on acid style aesthetic.

In his statement, Puccinelli raises questions about the origins of creativity, the way we as artists feed (almost always uncreated) on the thousands of images that previous makers made before us, and just what to do with the sudden existence of a new artist tool that seems on one hand to do just fine without the artist.

Just use it, would seem to one of the messages of the show. Recommended. Through July 1.