“Every major artist is an amalgamation or synthesis of diverse sympathies and influences.” – David Salle

PASTICHE by Anika Meier & Margaret Murphy is a series of 100 digital artworks created by using artificial intelligence as a tool to explore the intersection of the old and the new, retrospection and inspiration, and nostalgia and lost futures. 

The starting point for PASTICHE was Mark Fisher’s seminal book GHOSTS OF MY LIFE (2014) in which he proclaims that the future didn’t disappear overnight.

Humans are inspired; they borrow and pay tribute. There are roots, origins, and encounters. Humans are familiar with the history of art and with the artists who came before them. Their artwork, sometimes, is an homage to Mondrian, Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Sol LeWitt, Magritte, Edward Hopper, Rothko, and Delaunay. The pioneering artists of the 20th century had a profound influence on subsequent art; they transformed the way that people see art.

Where is the 21st-century equivalent of Mondrian? Does AI allow new forms of art to emerge? 

 Ten years ago, writer and cultural theorist Mark Fisher was frank about the deflation of expectations. He stated that culture has lost the ability to grasp and articulate the present, that artists rely on styles that were established long ago, and that the 21st century is oppressed by a crushing sense of finitude and exhaustion.

Has the 21st century started in the age of AI? 

Meier & Murphy prompted the AI to reimagine the pioneering artists of the 20th century created with computer code. At the same time, they fed the AI phrases from Fisher‘s GHOSTS OF MY LIFE.

The result is a montage of art from earlier eras with glimpses of what the future might look like once humans lose the grip of nostalgia, of the "warm security blanket" (Skye Nicolas). 

The future might appear again overnight. 

PASTICHE is the first collaboration by Anika Meier and Margaret Murphy.

Anika Meier is a German writer, curator, and concept artist who creates text-based works that critically reflect value in the post-digital age. She created UNSIGNED (2022) together with Operator and worked, among others, with CIRCA and Tezos on Marina Abramović‘s first NFT Drop and with Herbert W. Franke on his NFT Drop MATH ART. She was on the curation board of Art Blocks and is on the advisory board of Haus der Elektronischen Künste in Basel.

Margaret Murphy is an American artist and photographer working with cameras and prompts to create artworks that explore memories, post-photography, and image-making in the age of artificial intelligence. She released her series I COULD LOOK AT YOU ALL DAY as part of the group drop TMRW together with Der Greif on Quantum, FUTURE PASTS, PAST FUTURES and RE: ROAD TRIP with EXPANDED.ART, and TASTEBOTS with TranscendDao. Murphy was also part of UNSIGNED by Operator and Anika Meier. Solo and group exhibitions featured her photography and post-photography, among others, at the Villa Heike and EXPANDED.ART in Berlin. Her work has been shown at galleries in Los Angeles, New York, London, and the Washington, DC, area.