Helena Sarin

In one sentence my collection is about celebrating joy, humor, exuberance, fragility, and imperfection. 

The intent was to create artwork at the intersection of prehistoric myths and symbols and the latent space - I’m fascinated by the analogy between almost geometric imagery of pre-Columbian patterns and the generative artworks.  

Through a series of AI-generated images, transformed into the surface design for the pottery my ceramic pieces emerge as 'future artifacts'—tangible tokens of a present that bows to the past. In this blend of history, myth, comedy and cutting-edge technology one could appreciate the technical prowess but the work is meant to be enjoyed just on its crafty surface level. 

I paired each unique picture with a unique handcrafted ceramic piece  — think of the former, of the NFT, as a postcard, capturing the essence and spirit of La Potière Jalouse as inspiration for pottery. In fact, I made the pots for the deliberate purpose of painting generative images on them.  

And perhaps, as you ease into the night with your favorite drink cradled in one of these pots, you'll find joy in the simple pleasures—a  sip of tea, a splash of bourbon, or the warmth of a crafted mug and listen to the generative folktale, the bedside story I'm telling through the imagery on that vessel.


__Please tell us about how this exhibition came to fruition. Why does it feel important for you to release this work right now?__

The release of the collection coincides with the 5th anniversary of NeuralBricolage which I wanted to celebrate by creating a special collection of #potteryGAN objects. 

NeuralBricolage is about “shaping interesting and human from the dump heap of the latent space,” the riff on the “bricolage’ definition by Claude Levy-Strauss, the famous French anthropologist and ethnologist (1908-2009). Among his influential books, there was one that became the main inspiration for the series “La potière jalouse.” It’s a book about America’s mythology and pottery as a metaphor for creation. So I decided to make the anthropomorphized animals the focus of this very special celebratory collection in which each digital picture paired with a unique handbuilt and handpainted ceramic piece — think of the former, of the NFT, as a postcard, capturing the essence and spirit of what I call AIztec patterns as inspiration for pottery

__These two mediums – artificial intelligence and ceramics – seem diametrically opposed. One coming from the earth, and one from a machine. Within your practice, how do they relate? How do they come together?__

To make my AI artwork interesting I like connecting realms that are unlikely to be associated. In a sense clay is the beginning of civilization as we know it, AI is the end of civilization as we know it – it’s interesting to me to fuse them – another reason I’m so obsessed with the pre-Columbian and Indian ceramic art – its visual symbolism often reminds me of generative art, i could say that my work explores the intersection of dawn of humans and dawn of generative AI - the art of Homo Artificialis.  

__How did you begin your ceramics practice? Why has it become an important part of your creative journey?__

It started back in 2018 when I started to explore the ideas of transforming GAN designs from digital into physical craft mediums - like screenprint, glass fusion and clay. I call myself an engineering artist - as a maker and technologist it comes very naturally to me. I see my ceramic work as future artifacts.

__What has been the most rewarding aspect of your artistic career thus far?__

I’m quite a prolific and multidisciplinary artist as in Chagall’s, “I work in whatever medium likes me at the moment.” I was very lucky that my creative output in forms of linear prints, artists’ books, stop-motion animations and pottery found the appreciative audience (my amazing GANnoisseurs).

__What’s next for you and your art? What are you excited about for the rest of the year?__

Two quite ambitious generative pottery related projects, both are collabs with well-known generative artists that tentatively started in 2023. I hope to see them coming to fruition in 2024. 


Type	AI
Max supply	75
Number of artworks	75

La Potière Jalouse: Rite of the Handmade

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Behind the Work with Helena Sarin

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