Above / Maki is pictured in an A.I. generated photo, the Expressionism/Modernism style of Amedeo Modigliani. (Image by Jeff Penick)
A couple weeks ago a story appeared in the New York Times about Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian artist who worked across the media spectrum of painting, sculpture and drawings. When our youngest child was in high school, the surrealist had captured Jeff’s attention. Modigliani was born July 12, 1884, in Livorno, Italy. He died January 24, 1920, in Paris, France.
After I mentioned the online story to Jeff, he returned the following message in an email, accompanied by the surreal image of Maki that covers this post.
“It’s sort of sad in a way, but also interesting and exciting, that I can plop a photo of Maki into AI, request some tweaks and create a quasi picture of Maki in the style Modigliani,” Jeff said, “It’ll be interesting to see what the artists are able to do pushing the boundaries of human creativity with AI.”
Jeff also admired the work of René Magritte, a Belgian surrealist artist, who was born in Lessines, Belgium, on November 21, 1898. After a prolonged illness, Magritte died at the age of 68 on August 15, 1967.
Jeff’s old bedroom wall is papered with hundreds of photocopied images of The Pleasure Principal and The Son of Man by Magritte. The black and white squares surround a colorful image of another of Jeff’s favorites, the iconic Alfred E. Newman from Mad Magazine.
I must admit, I’m accustomed to getting the two surrealists confused as some of their works are similar by subject, especially their stylized nudes. But like Alfred E. Newman, I don’t worry about it.
And Maki, now ten years old, is never confused or worried. For the fun of it all, he’s a regular house guest who recently visited for spring break and March Madness. Go, Big Ten! —PN
